Strength A High School Musical Story
by Jeremiah2006
Summary: Troy has three younger sisters and a six week old son, follow him and family as they move from Chicago to Albuquerque, NM using his strength to live his life.
1. Chapter 1

Strength A High School Musical Story

Disclaimer: I don't own HSM or their characters even if I wish Zac was mine.

Chapter 1: The Move (Monday Aug 15th)

It is 2 am on moving day and Jack, Lucy, and Troy (age 16) are up and dressed. Troy's three sisters, Katerina (age 12), Miranda (age 8), and Emmalia (age 4) would sleep for a few minutes more. Troy's six week old son Elijah was also still asleep. Lucy just left in the SUV to get breakfast, well first breakfast; second breakfast would be around 8 am if all went according to their plan. While Lucy was out getting breakfast it was up to Jack and Troy to get the four kids up and dressed and get everything packed up and in the moving truck or by the door to go into the SUV when Lucy got back; and do one last look through the apartment for anything that may have been left. Jack got the girls up and ready to go while Troy got his son ready. As Lucy walked in the door with breakfast Kat the last one for a turn in the bathroom put her overnight bag by the door with all the others. Breakfast was eaten, overnight bags were loaded in the SUV, last bathroom breaks were taken, and the apartment was locked up with the keys turned in. At 2:55 am Jack and Lucy pull out in the moving truck and Troy pulled out with his son and sisters in the SUV. By 3:00 am they were on the highway for the first of a five day drive.

Its now almost 8 am and for the last five hours Troy has been remembering what led up to where he is now and thinking about what is going to happen when they arrive in Albuquerque, New Mexico in five days. Two weeks ago Jack had called a family meeting to announce that they were moving to Albuquerque because he had been offered and accepted a job coaching the varsity basketball team at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque his alma mater. So they spent two weeks packing what they were taking with them and selling what they weren't. After moving four times in the last ten years, the last time a year ago, they didn't have much clutter and junk. The kids had clothes, awards, a few books, and very few nick-knacks. Jack and Lucy had pared down over the years also and only had a few boxes worth of keepsakes and nick-knacks. With how little everyone had, even with seven people, everything fit in one large moving truck.

Everyone is looking forward to the move because they are all getting new bedroom furniture. The beds that the kids had now were bought at yard sells and were old and beat up then and even more so now. Jack and Lucy had been saving up for a few years knowing that one day they would be moving to a bigger place. Lucy was also a lawyer that earned the big bucks. Jack had played for a NBA team but had hurt his knee three games in and had to retire. He saved what was left of his signing bonus after all the medical bills had been paid so he had quite a bit saved to contribute to this move also. Both sets of grandparents, who were both loaded, were also majorly helping out.

Troy had known about the move at the end of June when his paternal grandparents, Alex and Sophie, came to visit for the 4th of July holiday, but he didn't know when exactly they would be moving. Lucy knew that they would need to move back in November of the previous year due to the circumstances involving how Elijah came to be. Troy had been a victim of date rape from his girlfriend at a Halloween party that the basketball team had thrown. A party that Troy did not want to go to but his father had made him. Jack was the coach of his high school basketball team and wanted Troy to get to know his team mates better, hence making him go to the party. The team was made up of eight seniors, three juniors, and Troy the sophomore. Troy didn't want to go because he knew that there would be lots of alcohol and sex going on at the party and if he didn't participate he would be even more of an outcast than he already was. He went though to make his father happy and took his girlfriend with him. He however was very adamant about not drinking any of the alcohol or having sex with his girlfriend or anyone else. His girlfriend however had a different idea about that. The girlfriend had put a date rape drug in his soda can when he had gone to the bathroom. After the drug started to set in she had taken him to a room in the house where the party was being held and when he was out of it enough she raped him. He doesn't remember the actual act just what lead up to it and then waking up naked next to her the next morning. Troy had called his mom to pick him up and she had gotten out of Troy what he knew and then took him to the hospital where test were done that had determined that he had been drugged and then raped. The girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to juvenile hall until she turned 18 and then jail until she was 21. Once it was discovered she was pregnant and was going to have the baby Troy had been given the choice of keeping the baby or giving it up for adoption. After thoroughly thinking about for a month Troy had decided to keep the baby. All parental rights were removed from the mother and she would never be allowed to see the baby after it was born. Lucy knew that for Troy to even remotely have a normal life they could not stay in Chicago after the baby was born. With his parents blessing Troy had decided to keep the baby, after all it was not he baby's fault that he had been raped. He would not be able to live with himself knowing that he had a child out there somewhere and not be a part of its life. Troy's extended family had been informed about the rape so no one thought he was just careless and knocked up some girl.

Troy's paternal grandparents took the news the best and had been supporting Troy through the whole thing. So when they came to visit they took him shopping for everything that he would need. They first took him to Babies'R'Us to get the small things. They needed to get Troy excited about the baby not overwhelmed so they started small. They also started a registry at each store they went to for the baby shower that would be thrown when they moved. So they bought what would be needed before the move and the rest they put on the registry. At Babies'R'Us they got pacifiers, bottles, diapers, wipes, baby blankets, and a diaper bag. They also got the big stuff and some of it had more than one function so that they could be used for a longer time. The car seat that they got also came with a jogging stroller. The car seat would attach to the stroller until Elijah out grew it and then only the stroller would be needed. The car seat would work until Eli was at least a year old maybe a bit long depending on how big he gets. Then a bigger car seat would be needed. After finding the car seat stroller combo Troy seamed a bit overwhelmed so, his grandparents took him the bedding section to look at all the cute designs and to pick one. Troy found a few that he liked but once he found a Winnie the Pooh set called 'Up and Away' he absolutely loved it. Finding the bedding set set the theme for the nursery. The bedding set had a coordinating mobile, window valence, wall art, lamp, snuggly blanket, and diaper stacker. Going with the Winnie the Pooh theme they found a Pack' n Play portable crib, swing, bouncer, and a play mat that also matched. The Pack'n Play playpen would work as a bassinet and later as a portable crib and playpen. Most of the stuff was just put on the registry to get later after the move but Troy was having a good time planning out what and how he wanted everything. After all the essentials that Troy would need before the move were bought and loaded in the car they went to Pottery Barn.

Troy was in for a treat when they got there, but with the treat came the bad also. His grandparents had informed him that his maternal grandparents were paying for his sisters' new rooms, everything that would go in them from the paint on the walls to the furniture. However, because they did not approve of Troy keeping Elijah they had decided not to pay for anything for Troy's or Elijah's new rooms. Due to this decision, Alex and Sophie were going to pay for everything for Troy and Elijah and nothing major for the girls. However, to be fair to the girls they would get a few things that their other grandparents didn't get that would be determined later. Troy was a bit upset that his maternal grandparents wanted him to give Elijah up for adoption but he decided to not let them get to him and focus on the good things instead.

At the Pottery Barn super store they went to the baby section first and found the furniture for Elijah's new room. They put everything on the registry. There was a store in Albuquerque also where everything would be bought from later. Troy found a 4 in 1 crib in an espresso color from the Larkin collection. The crib would convert to a toddler bed and later a full sized bed with the option of having both a headboard and footboard or just a headboard. Although to covert to the toddler and full sized beds additional parts would be needed, they went ahead and got the converter for the toddler bed because Troy knew that it would be used. A dresser with a removable changing table top and a rocking chair from the same collection and color were also found. After all they baby stuff was found they went to the teen and adult sections. They found a bedroom set in the adult section and the bedding in the teen section. Troy found a bedroom set that was a queen sized four poster bed, two end tables, and a TV media table. The set was in an espresso color that would match his son's furniture and was very streamline. He also got a mattress. He also decided to get two studio bookcases to go in his room that would flank the TV media table. He found storage containers made out of cloth material for the bottom two shelves of the bookcases to store extra blankets and sheets in. On the upper shelve he would put pictures, books, and an assortment of the glass containers that he has been collecting for years. The bedding set he got consisted of a quilt set was stripes of two colors of green, tan-ish gray, and cream; the comforter was plaid in blues, greens, grays, and white; and four sets of sheets that matched in blue, green, brown, and cream. Next they went and found a desk and chair and accessories for it and the wall that would keep him organized. The desk was black with drawers on both sides of the opening for the chair. On one side there were two filing cabinet drawers and on the other there was one filing cabinet drawer on the bottom and on top there were two smaller drawers. On top of the desk there was a small hutch about a foot tall at the most to organize papers and a place to plug in a computer or other electrical equipment and a phone line. In the same black three studio wall shelf units were found, same as the ones in his bedroom but this time in black, and an entryway table. The entryway table had two thin long drawers at the top and two shelves on the bottom. Office wall organizers were found that Troy would hang above the desk. There was a corkboard, whiteboard month and week calendars, linen pin board, mail organized, and a catchall with hooks for keys. Each component was put on a metal rod at the top to hang from and attached to the wall from the rod. The different components could be mixed and matched in any order or simply be by themselves. He found a cool lamp that had a lantern for the base and the shade had the out line of the world's continents on it in a green color. As he looked at all the accessories that were there he got ideas on how he could make some from the glass containers and stuff that he had found over the years for a lot cheaper than buying them there. He took pictures with his phone for later reference. A kitchen table and barstools that matched the streamline black office furniture were also found. Last but not least a leather couch, recliner, and ottoman with a side table and lamp were found for the living room. Overall Troy and Elijah were set and it only took six hours. They had done the shopping just in time too because Elijah was born earlier then expected on the 4th of July instead of towards the end of July. Troy was happy that Alex and Sophie were there for the birth. Elijah spent a week in the hospital to make sure that he was healthy enough to go home after being born three weeks early.

Now back to the present time with Troy in the SUV at 8 am. Troy had a rough plan about what to do when they arrived at the new house but wanted to get his sisters involved with the planning. Having them involved with the planning will help pass the time; after all they had a five day drive ahead of them. He figured that he would start after they got back on the road after breakfast. As Troy finished that thought Kat, who had the front seat woke up and asked when breakfast was going to be.

Five days were spent on the road with Troy and Lucy sharing the driving time of the SUV and Jack driving the truck. A basic schedule had been set with getting up at 2 in the morning to be on the road at 3 and driving until 8 at night when they would check into a motel for the night. Breaks were taken throughout the day to give the kids time to run a little and for everyone to eat. Troy would drive during the early morning hours when all the kids would be asleep and in the evening when Eli would be asleep. Lucy drove during the in between time so that Troy could take care of Eli when he needed to. When they got to the motel dinner was eaten, beds were set up, baths and showers taken, things got ready for the next day, and then everyone went to sleep usually by 10pm. During the times that Lucy was driving they planned what to do when they arrived. It was determined that the best coarse of action would be to keep most of the stuff in the garage and just put what they had been using in the motels in the bedrooms. They would use the blow up beds for a few more days and wash the clothes that they had been using for the last week and ware them again. On the fourth day of the drive they would be checking into the motel around five. They would spend the few extra hours doing laundry and getting extra sleep. On the fifth day they would be on the road at 3 am and be at the new house around 10am. Lucy and Troy estimated that they could have the moving truck empty by 1 pm. The truck had mostly boxes; they didn't have any furniture. The biggest things were actually the stuff that was need for Eli. After they unloaded the truck Jack and Lucy would return it while Troy watched the kids. During that time Troy would help the girls pick out their rooms and finalize color choices for their rooms and his. When they got back from returning the truck everyone would get in the SUV to go get the paint. Dinner would be takeout that night. Painting would commence the next day. With a tentative plan in place the driving continued.

On day five, Friday August 19th, the Boltons arrived at their new house at 9:30am. All seven members got out and explored the house. As they walked in the front door a dinning room was to the right and a staircase that leads upstairs was just a few feet in front of the door to the left. To the left of the entrance was a study with a fireplace and built in shelving on either side of it. Beyond the foyer through the gallery hallway was the grand room straight ahead. To the left down the hallway were a powder room and the master suite. Following the grand room to the right was the kitchen, breakfast area, and the gathering room with another fireplace. Continuing the circle to the right through the kitchen into a hallway to the left was the butler's pantry, laundry room, powder room and exits to the garage and back out front. A second set of stairs that led upstairs was between the grand room and kitchen. Under that set of stairs was another set of stairs that lead to the basement with the door to them in the hallway across from the dining room. The garage could fit three cars and had a closed in workshop in it. After exploring the first floor they went upstairs. There were four bedrooms for the girls to choose from. Kat being the oldest got to choose first. She chose the second largest room because it had its own bathroom so she wouldn't have to share and it had a good layout. Mira and Emma had a hard time choosing between two of the rooms so Troy and Lucy left Jack to referee the choosing of the bedrooms and went to go see the basement. As they entered the basement a large room was to the right that had a fireplace and built in shelve on both sides. There was also a full sized kitchen with a fridge, oven, stove, microwave, dishwasher, and sink. The cabinet and appliances were all done in black. Part of the large room in front of the kitchen was a bay window. To the left of the stairs was another large room with a fireplace and built in shelves. This room also had French doors that lead out to the covered terrace and backyard. The bedrooms were down a hallway behind the second big room. Down that same hallway was accesses to a very large storage room. Troy decided to take the larger room with the bay window for himself and the other room would be for Eli. There was a bathroom that connected the two rooms. Both rooms had large walk-in closets. There was also a large walk-in closet in the hallway. After they were done exploring the basement they headed back up to the first floor to meet the others. After everyone was done exploring and had used the bathroom the unloading of the truck commenced.

Troy got out the baby swing and set it up in the dinning room where he could keep an eye and ear on Eli while everything was unloaded and he would be out of the main foot paths. Troy took all of his and Eli's stuff down to the basement. The blow up beds and overnight bags were put in the bedrooms, the boxes of stuff for the kitchen were put in the gathering room, Jack and Lucy's clothes boxes were put in their closet, and everything else was left in the garage. By 1:00 pm the truck was empty. Lucy had ordered pizza to be delivered an hour before and was delivered as Jack shut the door to the truck. By 2:00 pm lunch was eaten and cleaned up so Jack and Lucy left to return the truck. Troy set the girls off to explore the house more while he feed and changed Eli. By 3:00 Jack and Lucy were back so the SUV was loaded up, the house locked up, and they left to go get the paint and supplies. It took them three hours to get everything that they needed and to get back home. While they waited for dinner to be delivered beds were set up, baths were taken (after bath essentials were found out in the garage), and night clothes were put on. Troy set up the portable crib and air mattress in Eli's room where they would both sleep until Troy had his room painted and set up. Troy was still going to have Eli sleep in his room with him for a while longer so he wanted to have that room finished first. Besides what he had planed for Eli's room would take longer to do. Troy also moved the swing downstairs and took the bouncer seat upstairs where they would eat. By the time he had all that done the food had arrived. After dinner was eaten by all including Eli, the girls, Lucy, and Jack went to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: if you recognize it it's not mine.

PLEASE check out my profile page to see links for pictures of the furniture and baby stuff that I mention in this story. I spent a lot of time finding it all maybe even more time than in writing the story.

HELP ME PLEASE: I have stuff written for this story until Troy starts school and an outline for his first day of school and a few ideas for beyond that. But I would like my readers input on things that they would like to see happen in the story. Please either send me ideas in a review or a PM. I will give you credit if I use your idea. THANK YOU!

Chapter 2: Settling In (Friday 19th Aug to Sunday 21st Aug)

Troy was not at all tired so when he had Eli down for the night he got out the paint gear and prepared his bedroom to be painted. He put down the drop cloth and taped up where it needed to be taped up. He then got out the blue paint that he had picked for his ceiling and painted it. He decided to bring down the blue paint four inches onto the wall from the ceiling to create a more elegant look. Between coats he set up his kitchen, first he cleaned everything, and then put contact paper on the cupboard shelves. After everything was clean Troy put the dishes away that he had run through the dishwasher when he had gotten home. While they had been out getting the paint Troy and Lucy had gone to a store in the same shopping center and had gotten Troy a basic set of dishes, glasses, and silverware. They found a collection where they could mix and match shapes, colors, and sizes. Troy picked out square ceramic plates in three sizes and glasses in two sizes that were all green, blue, black, and off white, two of each thing in each color. From the same set bowls were also selected. He got cereal bowls, bowls that were smaller than the cereal bowls, and four bowls that were larger than the cereal bowls in increasing size for mixing or salad bowls. They had not expected there to be a full kitchen in the basement complete with fridge, dishwasher, oven, stove, and microwave so, they had decided to get the basic supplies that he would need. Troy also made up a big batch of bottles that he then put in the fridge so that he would have them ready for the next day.

The paint was of a very good quality so it only took two coats and dried in a half hour. Troy had the ceiling done and one coat of the walls done by 10:00 pm. Troy chose a green color for the walls. Troy did the taping off that was needed out in the kitchen and living room area while he waited for the paint to dry. Troy had decided to paint the living area of the basement a gray tinted blue. The ceiling will be a cream color to accent the carpet that is throughout the basement. The cream will be brought down four inches on the wall as was done in the bedroom.

Troy was working on the living area ceiling when Eli woke up at 11:00 pm to be changed and feed. Eli was up for an hour playing with his activity mat in the bedroom. When he fell asleep again Troy put him in the crib.

The kitchen counter tops were a very nice beige-tan colored granite and the cabinets were black wood which set the design for the rest of the furniture in that area. Grandpa Alex had helped find the house and finalize the deal for Jack and Lucy. When he had viewed the house he took pictures and video of it that he showed to them and Troy when he visited in late June. Troy based his furniture and design choices based on the pictures and video that he had seen. A cream carpet that went very well with the counter top and cabinets was throughout the basement except for the kitchen area that had linoleum in a very similar color. Before Troy had gone to bed he had his room completely done; and the ceiling and one coat of the walls done in the living area. Troy was exhausted when he went to bed at 1:00 am so even with a 3:00 am feeding for Eli he was well rested when the 6:00 am feeding came. Due to how rested he felt he stayed up and did the second coat of paint on the walls in the living area. Troy had finished the painting and clean up by 7:30 am. So with a majority of the painting done Troy decided to move both his and Eli's bed into his bedroom and set up the swing in there also. After Troy had that done and Eli settled into his swing he brought in the boxes with his clothes in them into his bedroom from a storage room in the basement where he had stashed them so he could paint the living area without them in the way. His closet had built in organizers with plenty of drawers so he didn't need a dresser. Troy had two medium size boxes of clothes. He put the clothes that went into the drawers away and the clothes that needed to hang he stacked on top of the drawers because he didn't have hangers. At the apartment in Chicago he didn't have a closet only a dresser so he didn't have hangers. He would have to get some later. As he put away the clothes he talked to Eli. He basically just made comments on where he wanted to put each piece of clothing saying his thoughts out loud. He had read in a book about early childhood development that talking in a normal voice instead of in sickly and annoying baby talk was better for the baby's speech development. The more the baby head the better also, so Troy had taken to saying his thought out loud for Eli to hear. There was also the added benefit that hearing Troy's voice seemed to sooth Eli and Troy was soothed by that. A better bond was forming between father and son from it also like a mother does with the baby while she is pregnant. Troy was also writing a grocery list as he out his clothes away. Troy had bought a few books about babies when he had decided to keep Eli. After Eli was born he also bought a few books about preemies and the special care they needed.

Troy had finished putting away one of the boxes of clothes and was taking the empty box out of the bedroom into the living room when Lucy walked down the stairs into the living room bearing Burger King. Troy smiled brightly at not only seeing his mom but breakfast as he was hungry but knew that there was no food in the house.

"Hi, mama," Troy said in greeting.

Lucy was in a bit of a daze at seeing how far Troy had gotten with the painting. "Hi, Troy dear," she finally got out after a moment while still looking around the room at the paint job.

"Is that for me?" Troy asked pointing and referring to the Burger King bag and drink in her hands.

"Huh? What? OH! Yes, this is for you," she said breaking out of her daze and handing him the Burger King breakfast.

"Good morning Troy and how is my grandson doing this morning?"

"Morning mom, he's doing well, been up since 6."

"I like the paint job Troy. How late were you up last night?"

"Until 1:00 but I did the second coat on the walls out here this morning, I just finished about a half hour ago."

"Out here… you did more than this room?"

"Yeah, I finished my room last night. I did that first, did you want to see?"

"Yes, lead the way." Troy first set his breakfast on the kitchen counter and then walked to his bedroom with Lucy following him.

She was impressed with this room also. She took note of the beds having been moved in there, Eli in his swing, clothes in the closet, the lack of hangers, and a notebook on top of another box of clothes.

"We will have to get you some hangers, figure out how many you need and later we'll go to the store and get some. What is this list?" she asked referring to the notebook on the box.

"A grocery list, stuff that that I need right away and another of stuff I would like to have down here but don't need right away," he said in answer.

"This morning while your father starts painting the girls bedrooms I'll be taking Emma with me to the grocery store. My parents will be here around one to take the girls shopping for their bedroom furniture. Jack has asked for you to help him with the painting, he wants to get it done before my parents get here."

"Okay I'll help with the painting but do you think you could take Eli with you. He's been fed and changed so he should be good for you. I just don't want him near the paint fumes or down stairs by himself."

"I'll take him just get his diaper bag ready for me please."

"Okay I will and thanks mom."

"You're welcome."

Shortly after breakfast was done Troy had gotten the diaper bag ready and Eli in his car seat in the SUV for his mom. In the two hours that Lucy was gone to the store Troy and Jack had two of the girls' rooms done. While Jack started on the third Troy went and helped unload the car and got Eli settled in his swing in the gathering room for Lucy to watch so he could finish helping Jack paint. By the time Lucy's parents had arrived the painting had been finished. Troy was helping put the last of the kitchen stuff from the boxes away when they arrived. After a quick and quite cold greeting Troy left them to faun over the girls and to get a tour of the house while he broke down the boxes and took them out to the garage to be recycled later. During the tour Jack had been quite impressed with how far Troy had gotten with the painting; Lucy's mother however found ways to insult Troy for painting his area when he should have done the girls' rooms first. Lucy did her best to set her mother straight but it seamed that everything she said went in one ear and out the other. By the time the tour was over Lucy was so upset and frustrated with her parents that she decided to stay home with Troy and Eli while Jack went with them and the girls to go shopping.

Troy and Lucy spent the afternoon painting Eli's room and the bathroom while Eli took a nap in Troy's room. Before they got started on the painting Troy went into great detail about his plans for Eli's room so that Lucy would know what to do. The colors would be a green, blue, and dark brown to match the bedding set. The ceiling will be a sky blue, the upper half of the wall a darker blue. The lower half of the wall will be green with a dark brown border where the blue and green meet. Lucy enjoyed hearing her son be happy again. Troy had been in a funk for the last year never quite getting over his rape. Troy took to fatherhood like he did with most things, with ease. Eli was a very good baby, easy to please, didn't fuss much, easy to feed, and self content. Troy spent as much time with him as he could while he could. Once school started up again his time with Eli would be significantly less.

Troy and Lucy had started painting at two and had finished by four. All that was left was the horizontal boarder stripe that Troy was going to do later that evening to allow the paint to dry completely. While Troy fed and changed Eli, Lucy cleaned up the brushes. Jack had called to say that they would still be a few more hours and that they would eat dinner out. So Troy and Lucy would make their own dinner. While Lucy started on diner and Eli was in his swing in the hearth room Troy went upstairs to paint the girls bathrooms. Emma and Mira who were sharing a bathroom had decided to have a purple bathroom. Kat decided to have a blue bathroom to match her bedroom. They would be getting the shower curtain, towels, and accessories today when they ordered their bedroom furniture. Troy had finished with the painting and clean-up by the time Lucy had dinner ready. All the rooms on the main floor including the master bedroom were all painted in colors that Lucy and Jack liked so all the painting was finished. After dinner between Troy and Lucy they had brought in all of the electronic equipment that goes in the entertainment center in the grand room and all other stuff that would go on the shelves and walls from the garage. Troy had all the electronics hocked up and running correctly and Lucy had all the boxes of stuff empty and on the shelves. Picture to hang on the walls were placed on the floor leaning against the walls. Troy had just come back inside from the garage where he added the last of the broken down boxes to pile out there when everyone else got beck from the shopping trip.

Lucy's parents, Amanda and Richard, did not stay long because it was getting late and they wanted to get home. However, before they left Amanda made a few short statements.

"The furniture will be delivered on Tuesday between 9:00 and 11:00 am. I have also ordered a piano that will be delivered on Monday between 2:00 and 5:00 pm. Here is the information on the piano," she said handing over a brochure on the piano to Lucy, "I will pay up to one hundred dollars per week for lessons per girl. Once a month at each Sunday dinner I will give you check for $1200 for the lessons. If there is anything left over after paying for the lessons use it on the girls for something else. I have included a list of piano teachers in the area in the brochure. You may choose one of them or find someone else it does not mater to me who the teacher is. However, I expect to see progress once a month when I will have them play for me at our monthly family dinner. Now we must be going, we will see you tomorrow for the family diner at 5:00 pm. Do not be late. Good bye." With that last parting statement she and Richard left.

Troy took the brochure on the piano from his mother to see what kind it was and found it was a Steinway and Sons Model B Music Room Grand piano. It was a very expensive and exquisite piano that had Troy practically drooling thinking about just being able to play on one just once let alone have one in his house where he could play it at anytime he wanted, well within reason. While Troy was day dreaming about one of the best pianos that could be made, Jack was informing Lucy that he had not known about the piano and then went on to describe their shopping trip.

After Lucy had calmed down about the piano, mostly from seeing how excited Troy was about it, she had the girls take all their new stuff up to their rooms and had Troy help them. The furniture may not be delivered until Monday but all the bedding and accessories to go with it they had brought home with them. Troy had them put all of the bedding downstairs in the laundry room so that it could be washed before it was used. When they got to the bathroom accessories Troy helped them put up the shower curtains but told them the decals and shelves for the walls would have to wait until the next day to make sure that the paint was completely dry before they were put up. Laundry was started that night but would have to be finished the next day. Soon it was time for everyone to go to bed. Troy finished putting his clothes away before he crashed for the night.

The next morning, Sunday 21st of August, Troy was up at six with Eli. After Eli had his morning change and breakfast, Troy was using the internet on his iPhone (somehow getting service) to make a detailed list of all that he was going to buy later that day at Pottery Barn. His grandparents, Alex and Sophie, were going to be there around 10:00 am to pick him up. He wanted this trip to go smoother than the trip back in June because this time he would have Eli with him. All the furniture had been ordered and paid for already and was due to be delivered on Monday. Alex and Sophie had gone to the local Pottery Barn there in Albuquerque to order the furniture after they had come back after their visit in June. The store had wide enough aisles that Troy would be able to keep Eli in his stroller instead of having to carry him around the store. Due to the time that they would be there he had a feeling that Eli would sleep through most of it so he was glad that Eli could be in his stroller and be jostled around less than if he had to be carried allowing for a better nap.

By 8:00 am Troy had eaten his breakfast and was heading upstairs with Eli to see what the rest of his family was up to for the day. Lucy, Jack and the girls were going out to get things that they would need for the house. From the basic stuff such as laundry and dishwasher soap to the furniture for the house. They would be getting the hangers that Troy would need while they were out shopping. They had left by 9:00 leaving Troy and Eli home alone until his grandparents got there.

Troy spent the time looking through the stuff that he had found in the storage room in the basement that the previous owners had left. He hit a jackpot. He found a stash of candles of every size and shape he thought there was ever possibly made. They varied in color from the normal cream to greens, blues, reds, orange, black, purples, and pinks. There were also a lot of old glass bottles and jars of all sizes. If he cleaned everything up he could make the accessories he had seem at Pottery Barn from them. Troy wanted to clean out the storage room to convert a small area into a photography darkroom. He had some of the stuff for it but not all. At his old school he could use their darkroom for a fee but he had to buy his own chemicals and photo paper. So he had the chemical and photo paper but not the tubs or tables for them to go on. The storage room had what he needed though with work benches and shelves that looked like someone had set up for an indoor greenhouse. There was electricity and lights in the room all he had to do was change the color of light bulbs. The set up of the room would be an on going project until he could get all the equipment that he would need and not all of it was cheep. He was planning on asking for some of what he would need for his birthday and Christmas that year from his parents.

At a quarter to 10:00 Troy cleaned himself up from being in the dusty storage room and made sure that Eli's diaper bag was packed. While waiting for Alex and Sophie to show up he feed Eli a bottle and the got him settled in his car seat. They showed up shortly after Troy had everything by the door waiting for them so in short order they were all in the car and off to the store. They were gone for four hours and that included the drive there and back and a lunch break. Troy's detailed list made the trip smooth and would have gone faster but the store was quite busy so they had to move slower through the store and the check out took a while. When they got back they took everything to the basement where Troy gave them a tour of the rooms to show what he had done in the few days that he had been there. After seeing the basement Troy took them upstairs to see the rest of the house. Shortly after the tour the rest of the family got home. Alex and Sophie did not stay much longer than to see the rest of the family because everyone else needed to get ready for the Nielsen family dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

ATTENTION: this is chapter 3! I posted chps 1 and 2 on the same day. If you missed chap 2 please go back and read it. Thanks.

Disclaimer: if you recognize it it's not mine.

The songs mentioned in this chap can be found on YouTube.

PLEASE check out my profile page to see links for pictures of the furniture and baby stuff that I mention in this story. I spent a lot of time finding it all maybe even more time than in writing the story.

HELP ME PLEASE: I have stuff written for this story until Troy starts school and an outline for his first day of school and a few ideas for beyond that. But I would like my readers input on things that they would like to see happen in the story. Please either send me ideas in a review or a PM. I will give you credit if I use your idea. THANK YOU!

AN: You get your first glimpse of Gabriella in this chapter. Her life story is different than that in the movies. You will find out her story as Troy does since this story is written from his point of view. I don't have all of her past written yet just her family structure so if you have ideas that you would like to see let me know I might work them into the story. I will give you credit if your idea is used.

HAPPY READING ;D

Chapter 3: The Nielsen Family Dinner

It took the Bolton family two hours to have everyone ready to go to the Nielsen family dinner. Showers had to be taken, nice clothes found in boxes, those clothes ironed, everyone dressed in said clothes, hair done, Eli changed and feed, and everyone loaded into the car. Finally they were all ready and on the road by 4:30 pm giving them a half hour to drive to Richard and Amanda Nielsen's house. They arrived ten minutes early.

A butler opened the door for them and they were shown to the living room where all of the adults were gathered. Richard and Amanda greeted them first and then the aunts and uncles. The aunts and uncles from oldest to youngest child of Richard and Amanda were Jonathan and Rosalia Evans (nee Nielsen), Adam and Jessica Nielsen, Oliver and Margaret Cox (nee Nielsen), and Nathaniel and Robin Nielsen. After the introductions the kids were shown to the basement where all of their cousins were.

As they entered the basement they saw their cousins lounging on couches or playing pool but as they were spotted all activity stopped. Mark who was the oldest of his cousins came forward and introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Mark Nielsen and you must be the Boltons. I know who you are Troy, and your sisters from pictures and Facebook but let's do some formal introductions. I will go first, then you guys go, and then everyone else will go. I'm Mark Nielson, as I said before, I'm 18, my birthday is January 2nd, and I'll be going to Brown University in a few weeks."

Troy being the oldest out of his siblings introduced himself first. He knew who they were based on pictures and videos form Christmas updates and from Facebook but they had not met in person since Troy was about six. "Hello, I'm Troy Bolton, I'm 16, my birthday is October 18th, and I'll be a junior at East High School starting in a few weeks. This is my son Elijah, he will be seven weeks old tomorrow," referring to Eli who was in the car seat he was carrying.

"Hey, I'm Katerina but call me Kat. I'm 12 but I'll be 13 on September 13th. I'm going to be in eighth grade at East Junior High."

Mira being shy hid behind Troy and didn't speak so Troy introduced her. "Hiding behind me is Miranda, Mira for short. She is 8 and her birthday is October 19th. She will be in fifth grade at East Elementary."

"Hi! I'm Emmalia, not Emily, Emma_lia,"_ she said making sure to emphasize the correct pronunciation of her name, "but you can call me Emma. I'm 4 but I'll be 5 October 31st," she said while holding up the correct number of fingers while throwing her arm straight out. "I get a birthday party _and_ get to dress up _and_ go trick or treating getting _lots_ of candy. I get to be in kindergarten this year but Troy thinks I should be in 1st grade. I _can_ read already you know." Emma finished in her very out going, proud and some what of a know-it-all voice and manner. She got a few laughs and giggles from their cousins.

Since their introductions were done it was time for their cousins to introduce themselves. One girl who was dressed in all pink stepped forward acting as if she was offended that she had not been able to be the center of attention for to long now. "Well it's my turn now since my mother is the oldest of our Nielson parents and I'm her oldest child I'll go first!" She said in a haughty manner. "I am Sharpay Evans, 17 years old, birthday August 1st, and I'll be a junior at East High where I will be that star of all of the theater productions."

When it was clear she was done talking her twin stepped forward to introduce himself. "High, I'm Ryan Evans, 17 years old, birthday August 2nd, and I will also be a junior at East High."

"Hey, I'm Charlie Nielson, I'm Mark's brother. I'm 14 and my birthday is on June 10th. I'll be a freshman at East High."

"Hey, I'm Martha Cox, I'm 17 my birthday is June 30th, and I also will be a junior at East High. I hope we have some classes together."

"I'm Olivia Cox, 14, July 8th, freshman, East High," was her short introduction.

"Hey, I'm Kelsi Nielsen. I'll be 17 on November 5th and I'll be a junior at East High also."

"I'm Philip, Kelsi's brother. I'm 8, my birthday is May 9th. I'll be in 4th grade at East Elementary." With that the introductions were over.

After everyone had settled down Troy decided to break the tension that had settled over the room by starting a conversation before anyone could ask uncomfortable questions about Eli or his rape. "So what is the schedule for tonight?" he asked while taking out a notebook from Elijah's diaper bag and got ready to take notes.

Mark answered before anyone else could, "Are you really going to take notes?"

"Yes."

"_Well_, okay then. Usually as we arrive we are sent down here while our mothers join Grandmother in the living room and our fathers will join Grandfather in the library. Everyone is expected to be here by 5:00 pm. We mingle until 6:00 when we are expected in the family room where the piano is. Those of us that are taking lessons are expected to show that they have improved in the last month and those of us who are done with lessons are expected to play a new song. If there is time left over then Sharpay usually entertains us until 7:00 when diner is served. Diner is over at 8:00. Then we go back into the family room where we are basically interrogated by other family members about what ever our parents have had time to brag about. While that is happening Kelsi and Ryan take turns playing the piano as background music. At 9:00 we start to leave. These diners happen every third Sunday of the month."

"Okay great. Now do you mind telling me about East High?"

Mark took charge again, silencing Sharpay with a look before she could get started on her version which would have been all about her drama productions rather than classes and sports which Troy was actually looking for in an answer. "You take eight classes a semester in a block schedule. With classes that are on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday or Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. All eight classes meet on Wednesdays and you have an additional period called free period during which club meeting happen but most students use the time to hang out with friends, finish homework, or sleep. You are going to try out for the varsity basketball team, right?"

"Yeah, dad would kill me if I didn't."

"Then make sure you take P.E during your last period on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. If you make the team you will be required to take P.E. then anyway so save yourself the hassle of a schedule change. The team is required to have three hours of study hall a week and most of that time happens during class. On the days that you have class practice starts early and ends early so you are not at school late every night giving you more time for school work. Basically it all works out so that practice is over at 6:00 on Mondays and Thursdays, 5:00 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. A more detailed schedule will be given to you on the day of try out if you make the team."

"School starts on Wednesday so that you get to all of your classes on the same day. You will be spending a lot of that time going to the library for each of your classes that require a text book. Also during the free period that day is club sign up time. Go to the basketball both and sign up for try outs, it makes a good first impression on the coaches. Sometimes that can make the difference between making the team and not. The actual try out is that Thursday from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. The first half hour of the try out is warm up. The Montez twins will most likely be the ones leading it. They are up for team captain. Do you best during warm up and do what the Montez twins or who ever is leading tell you to do because the coaches are looking at your ability to follow the team leader and how in shape you are. Those who don't take the warm up seriously don't make the team. After warm up there are a lot of ball handling skills testing. Then the shooting skills and team work skills. Depending on the time there might be a little scrimmage. At 7:00 it's over and you hit the showers. You have to be back in the gym at 7:15 when the coaches will announce who made the team. Once those who didn't make it have left the coach will make a short speech and then hand out the team bags with the practice uniforms in them, a folder with paper work in it and a academic planer."

Mark paused in his speech long enough for Troy to notice that they only had twenty minutes left before they would be expected to be up stairs so he called a halt to the information session. "Thank you for telling me all that, I have more questions but I need to feed Eli before we are expected back upstairs. Perhaps we can talk more tonight or another day. Can I have your phone number so I can put it in my cell phone?"

"Sure, here why don't I put all of our cell numbers in your phone while you take care of Eli," with that Troy handed his cell phone to Mark who went around to everyone to put their cell phone numbers into the phone.

Troy went over to the microwave that was in the kitchen in the basement to heat up Eli's bottle. Troy then spent the next fifteen minutes feeding and changing Eli. Once he was done everyone else was heading back upstairs. Kat came over and carried the car seat while Troy held Eli in his arms. He didn't really know what to expect when they got up there so he felt better holding his son. He also took advantage of the chance to hold him while he could because he hadn't been able to as much as he wanted to over last week due to the move. Once they were all in the family room Grandmother Amanda took charge telling the kids to start their rotation at the piano while the adults sat back and listened. Troy stood in the back because he didn't know how Eli would react to the music. Eli seamed to like the piano music and was even starting to go to sleep in his arms, that was until it was Sharpay's turn. Instead of playing the piano herself as he thought was expected out of all of them she had Kelsi play while she and Ryan sang a song making as big of a production out of it as she could given the setting. On her first note, very loud note, Eli let out a whimper that threatened to become a full out crying sob if the noise didn't stop. Since Troy couldn't exactly make Sharpay stop sing he left the room instead. He retreated down the hall and found the library. Once in there Sharpay's voice was nothing but background noise and Eli calmed down. Troy had a seat on one of the chairs that was in there and softly rocked him to sleep.

Troy didn't know how long he had been sitting in that library chair watching his son sleep in his arms when he noticed that his Grandfather had come in and sat in the chair that was across from him. "Hello, Grandfather. I hope it is alright that I came in hear Eli did not like Sharpay's loud singing. I left so he did not disturb anyone with his crying."

"That was the correct thing to do. However, your Grandmother noticed that you were no longer in the room and sent me to find you." Troy started to stand to head back to the family room, "stay seated, I have a few things to say. I do not agree with my wife's behavior towards you lately and have tried to talk some sense into her but I have not been successful as of yet. So, for now what I have to say to you will have to do. I approve of you keeping Elijah, it was the right thing to do, it may have not been the easy thing but it was the right thing."

"Thank you. I would have found it harder to give him up so it was both the easy and right thing for me to do."

"Well good. Now while I get something that I have to give you why don't you lie Eli down on that mat over there in the corner so that he can sleep in the quiet while we eat dinner?" Troy did just that and when he was done he returned to the chair that he had just vacated at his Grandfather's direction. In his Grandfather's hands were three envelopes, two were mail letter size and the third was a legal document size. "I want you to put these in your bag there and wait until you get home to open them," he said referring to Eli's diaper bag, "they are for you and Elijah. Despite what your Grandmother might think I know that you did not willingly sleep with that girl. Your mother was quite distressed while you were in the hospital after the incident. She called often and while Amanda did not have the patience to listen to her own daughter I did. I know from how you reacted that you were not faking the rape. I will keep working on Amanda to get her to see reason but for now I am sorry to say that you will just have to grin and bare her behavior. Now then, dinner will be served soon so we should head to the dining room."

"Thank you, Grandfather for believing me, trying to make Grandmother believe me, and for these," he said referring to the envelopes in his hand that he was putting in the diaper bag.

"You're welcome," he said to Troy.

They left the library and headed to the dining room. What they did not know was that part of their conversation was over heard by the daughter of the caterer who was there helping her mother and had been sent to inform them that dinner was ready. She had not wanted to interrupt so had been waiting for a pause in the conversation to announce that dinner was ready. She was shocked at hearing that a boy could be raped. When she got over the shock she heard Mr. Nielsen saying that they should head to the dining room so she turned and went back to the kitchen before they saw her.

In the dining room Troy was placed between Mark and his sister Emma. All of the children were at one end of the table while the adults were at the other. A salad was at each place setting. Troy took one look at the salad and shot his left hand out taking hold of Emma's had from putting the fork full of salad into her mouth. "Emma, the salad has carrots in it. Wait a moment and let me see if I can get you one with out them," he said to her quietly in her ear. He then turned to Mark on his right and asked, "Is there some way to get a different salad, both Emma and I are allergic to carrots?"

"Politely get Grandfather's attention, asked to be excused, he will ask why, you tell him about the allergy, he will excuse you to the kitchen to get salads without carrots," was Mark's answer.

Troy looked up and over to his Grandfather catching his eye Troy said, "Grandfather, may I have permission to be excused?"

"Your reason?" he asked.

"Emma and I are allergic to carrots, which these salads have, I would like permission to go get ones that do not," he replied.

"Permission granted, you are excused," he replied.

Troy then stood, grabbed both his salad and Emma's, and left the room. He went straight to the kitchen which he had found the location of on the way to the library with Eli earlier. As he entered the kitchen the older of two Hispanic ladies noticed him. "Is there something wrong with the salads dear?" she asked.

"Just a slight one, my sister and I are allergic to carrots, nothing to serious but very unpleasant if we ingest them," was his reply.

"Well that is alright dear, here give me the bowls and I'll get you some without carrots, have a seat there," she said referring to the barstools at the kitchen island where the other lady was, "this is my daughter, Gabriella."

As Troy rounded the island and took a seat he greeted her, "Hello, I'm Troy Bolton."

"Hi, Gabriella Montez. I would shake your hand but," she trailed off lifting here plastic glove covered hand. She was wearing gloves for sanitary reasons; after all she was handling food that other people were going to eat.

"That's okay. Montez, any relation to the Montez twins on the East High School varsity basketball team?" asked Troy.

"Yes, they are my older brothers," she replied.

"Oh, great does that mean that you will also be going to East High?" he asked.

"Yes, I'll be a junior this year," was her reply.

"Oh, me too. My family and I just moved here from Chicago. It will be nice knowing someone other than my cousins. Maybe we will have some classes together," said Troy.

"That would be nice," she replied.

"Here are two carrot free salads. Now do you or your sister have any other allergies?" asked Mrs. Montez.

"Thanks," he said taking the salads from her and the replied to the question, "apples and seafood. If it comes from the sea we can't eat it, not even fish. Just Emma and I though, both Kat and Mira don't have allergies and neither do our parents," was his answer.

"Okay I will take note of that for future dinners. You should head back now before Mrs. Nielsen sends for you," she said gesturing him out of the kitchen.

"Alright, thank you again for the salad, it was nice meeting you both, I hope to see you at school Ms. Gabriella," he said as he left the kitchen.

..…..

"He seams to be a very polite young man," Mrs. Montez said to Gabriella.

"Yeah, he does," she said. She was still a little unsettled about hearing that he had been raped. She hadn't said anything to her mother about what she had heard; she didn't what to say if she did say anything so just kept quiet instead.

…..

Troy sat back down putting both salads down, the rest of dinner pasted smoothly and fast. When 8:00 came everyone was finished eating and heading back to the family room. Troy made a quick detour to the library to check on Eli. He ran into Gabriella on his way back to the family room.

"Hi again Ms. Gabriella," he said in greeting with a bit of a light teasing tone of voice.

"Why hello Mr. Troy, hum, that just doesn't sound right," she said trying to return the tease.

"It alright, hey this might sound a bit forward but I don't mean anything by it but would you mind exchanging cell phone numbers? I'm trying to get they lay of the land so to speak of East High before school starts and another point of view would be appreciated if you are willing," he said.

"I suppose that would be alright, we could text and talk for a bit, get you acquainted with the enemy territory that is high school," she replied pulling out her cell phone. They then quickly entered each others numbers.

"Thank you, I'm sorry to cut this wonderful conversation short but I best get in there before my Grandmother notices I am gone and sends someone to find me for a second time this evening, I don't think that would go over well with her," said Troy.

"Yes, best not to let that happen, I'll talk to you later than," she said and turned to head back to the kitchen while Troy headed to the living room.

Troy walked into the room unnoticed and made his way quietly over to Kelsi who was against the wall by herself. "Hey, Kels," he said as he leaned against the wall next to her, "sorry we didn't talk much earlier but if I didn't get the low down on basketball when I had the chance my dad would have been mad when he found out."

"That's okay, I know how he can get, besides we text all the time, so how is the moving in going?" she asked.

"Its going well, all the painting is done, and my furniture arrives tomorrow. Hey get this, Grandmother bought a baby grand piano for our house. I won't have to use a school piano anymore. Of course she bought it for the girls but I'll get to use it too."

"She buys one for all of our houses so that there is no excuse for not practicing, but that's great for you, you can compose more music, maybe we could write more together now that you live here."

"Yeah, but we will have to wait until things settle down a bit before I will have the time." They fell into a comfortable silence for a while being wall flowers in hope of avoiding being interrogated by one of their aunts or uncles.

Over at the piano Ryan was coming to the end of the song he was playing and his turn at the piano next it would be Kelsi's turn. He kindly asked Emma who had been standing behind and to the side of him watching him play if she would go and get Kelsi for him. When she saw Troy she dragged him to the piano also and made him play with her. Troy and Emma first played the duet 'Heart and Soul' and the Emma had Troy play songs that she could sing which were: Vanilla Twilight and Fireflies by Owl City, Eye of the Tiger by Survivor from the movie Rocky, Hey Soul Sister by Train, and A Whole New World form the movie Aladdin.

The whole family was quite impressed with their piano playing and singing. Martha had her ever present video camera going catching the whole performance on video. When they finished the last song 'A Whole New World' which they sang as a duet they were stopped from playing another song because it was time to go. A round of good byes started in the now very crowded family room. Troy made his round while trying to find Kat so he could ask her what she did with Eli's car seat. Kat found him first with the car seat in her hands. Troy made a detour through the kitchen as it was the fasted way out of the family room.

"Hello again Mrs. Montez, that was a wonderful dinner that you made," said Troy.

"Thank you Troy, I'm glad that you liked it. Are you on your way out now?" she asked.

"Yes, I just have to go get my son from the library where he is sleeping," he replied.

"Oh, well don't let me keep you, have a good night," she said in a bit of a shocked voice at hearing that he had a son.

"Thank you, have a good night too," said Troy as he walked out of the room.

When Troy entered the library he found Gabriella holding a book standing over by Eli staring at him as if in shock. He slowly walked up to her and took a hold of the book so that if she startled she wouldn't drop the book on his son. "Hey," he simply said in a quiet greeting.

Gabriella did startle a bit but she made tighter grip on the book bringing it closer to her body instead of dropping it. "Hey," she replied, "I was just exchanging books, Mr. Nielsen lets me borrow them one at a time, I saw him, I was just looking I swear."

"That's okay I just didn't want you to drop the book on him if I startled you," he said as he bent down to put Eli in his car seat. Once he was settled Troy put the diaper bag over his head and onto his shoulder. Then he picked up the car seat.

"Is that your brother?" asked Gabriella as she put the book in her hands away.

"No, he's my son," he replied.

"Oh," she didn't know what else to say.

Troy for some reason felt that he needed to tell her what had happened and that he could trust her to not spread it around the school so he told her. "Please keep that to yourself, I don't want the whole school knowing."

"I will, I promise. I'm sorry about what happened to you, no one should have that happen to them."

"Thank you, you should read David Copperfield next."

"Hum, perhaps I will."

"Troy, your parents are waiting for you," Grandfather Richard said as he entered the room.

"Alright Grandfather. See you at school, Ms. Montez. See you soon Grandfather," Troy said as he left the room.

Troy found his mother waiting in the entrance hall waiting for him. "Jack is putting the girls in the car, lets go," she said as she wrapped her arm around his waist and guided him out the door. It was a quiet drive home.

When they arrived back home Troy said good night to his parents and sisters and went to the basement carrying Eli in his car seat. Troy quickly put Eli to bed. After getting out his night clothes he went and took a shower to get out all the hair gel and cologne off. After he was refreshed and dressed comfortably he emptied Eli's diaper bag of the dirty dipper, empty bottle, and used burp rag. After that he refilled the bag with the essentials so it would be ready the next time it was needed. When he emptied the bag he also took out his note books and the three envelopes that his grandfather had given him earlier.

The two small envelopes had names written on them one with his, the other Eli's. He opened his first, there was a paper with a note written on it wrapped around 1000 dollars in cash. The note said to use the money on what he wanted most. Next he opened Eli's and found the same except the note this time said to use the money on what ever he needed to for Eli. He was in shock already from those envelopes so when he read the contents of the third he almost past out but didn't, instead he stood there staring at the paper for what must have been at least fifteen minutes. He was looking at a trust fund document for Elijah to be used for college or further education of some kind that would be worth $100,000 a year for up to eight years. Eli could go to just about any University he wanted, even Ivy Leagues. Elijah waking up was what finally jolted Troy out of his trance.

Later that night after Troy had gotten Eli fed, bathed, clothed, and back to bed he put the money and trust fund document in a lockbox that he was storing in the storage room for now. He got very little sleep that night thinking about the weird dynamics of his grandparents and the possibilities for not only Eli's future but his own. Troy was aware that a trust fund for him existed but not how much it was worth. If it was worth even half of the one for Eli then he would not have to go to the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque just because he could go there for free as long as his father coached or taught there. If he found a college that he liked better he could go there even with taking care of Eli at the same time. He fell asleep to all the possibilities for his future swirling in his head.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: if you recognize it it's not mine.

The songs mentioned in this chap can be found on YouTube check them out I love Augustana.

PLEASE check out my profile page to see links for pictures of the furniture and baby stuff that I mention in this story. I spent a lot of time finding it all maybe even more time than in writing the story.

HELP ME PLEASE: I have stuff written for this story until Troy starts school and an outline for his first day of school and a few ideas for beyond that. But I would like my readers input on things that they would like to see happen in the story. Please either send me ideas in a review or a PM. I will give you credit if I use your idea. THANK YOU!

Chapter 4: Manic Monday

On Monday morning Troy was up at 6:00 am as was Eli's regular schedule. After he had Eli fed and settled into his swing Troy got to clearing the living area of the stuff he brought home the day before from Pottery Barn. He needed the area clear for the furniture that was being delivered that morning. At the reasonable hour of 8:00 am he sent a text message to his cousins Kelsi, Martha, Mark, and Charlie asking if they had any plans for the day and if they didn't if they wanted to come over and help him put together his new furniture. They all replied in the positive if food was involved. Troy replied that he would provide lunch and dinner, if they took that long, but they were on their own for breakfast as they didn't need to be there until 10:00 am.

By the time that they all arrived the furniture had been delivered. Lucy had left around 9:30 with Emma and Mira to register them for school. She had called at 8:00 that morning to make an appointment and they had one that day at 10:00 am. Troy and Kat would be registered at the junior high and high school on Wednesday. Kat stayed home with Troy. Jack was at the University for meetings that were happening all day long.

With six people, well five because either Kelsi or Martha had a video camera in their hands the whole time, it took them about six hours to put all of the furniture together. They took breaks and had lunch in that time. During the breaks that they took Troy would play with Eli when he wasn't down for a nap. Troy had also decided not to put together the furniture for Elijah's room because he thought his mom might like to help him with that. There were many hilarious moments, all caught on video, due to misreading the directions, not having enough hands (sometimes to many hands), and just plane goofing off. Troy's bedroom was tackled first, he wanted to sleep in a real bed that night, and could live with nothing else being put together as long as his bed was. By the time 4:00 came around all of them were at his new kitchen table, except for Kat who was upstairs watching TV waiting for the piano to be delivered. Troy had gotten out his photography archive books where he kept all of his photos that he had developed but didn't have framed. He used some of them as a portfolio and others as storage. The ones he had as storage had copies of all the photos in the ones he used as a portfolio. Troy had gotten a lot of photo frames of all sizes so he could display as many of his photos as the space would allow. His cousins were helping him decide which ones to use and where to put them. He had space in the living room area and his bedroom. A collection of large print black and white photos were chosen for the display area in the 'dining room' of the living area. What had been called the game room had been turned into his dining room. This part of the basement was just a little bit bigger than 21 feet by 17 feet. One of the walls in this area had windows that were nearly floor to ceiling; one had the fireplace and built-in shelves; and one wall that had no windows. On the wall that had no windows Troy had set up an entry table that was flanked by studio wall shelf units. It was on the entry way table, shelves, and wall that the large print black and white photos would go. He had taken all but one of the photos. The one that he didn't was of him with his parents when he was about four years old. He had found the photo the previous year and had taken it to school for a project in his photography class, they had been assigned a photo restoration project where they had to use a computer program to fix a damaged photo. He took the old photo that was fading and browning with age and scanned it into the computer where he made corrections to the faded parts and returned the colors back to their original colors. As a side project he turned the photo black and white and made a new negative which he then used the darkroom to develop the photo on a 14 by 16 inch photo paper. The other photos he took and they were of his sisters. He wanted to include photos of Elijah but didn't have any developed yet so frames and space in the display area was set aside for them. Troy had also gotten out his collection of assorted glass containers and fillers for them that he had collected and what he found in the storage area. He along with Martha and Kelsi were putting them together to display them around the basement. He showed them the photos he had taken at Pottery Barn and other ideas he got of the internet as reference for what he wanted. They were having a great time hanging out and talking about whatever came to mind while they were working on the photos and accessories.

It was a little after 4:00 when Kat came back down to the basement to say that the piano was there. Troy and the girls went up to see the piano brought in and put together while the guys stayed in the basement to look at more photos and keep an ear out for Eli who was taking a nap in Troy's room.

After the piano people left Troy was very egger to try out the piano so he sat down at it and did a few scales to get a feel for the sound and feel of the keys. Then he started to play a song that he had been writing for the last few months but had not played the full song for anyone else let alone himself. He had named the song 'Boston'. As he got into the song he forgot about there being anyone else in the room or that Kelsi and Martha had been video taping pretty much everything that had happened that day and were currently filming him. When he finished the song he closed his eyes took a deep breath, closed the lid over the keys, stroked it lovingly exhaling, and looked right at Kelsi into the camera with a look that was very hard to interpret but was both heart breaking and soul lifting at the same time. With that look Kelsi turned the camera off. Both Kelsi and Martha were a bit speechless but Mark and Charlie who had come up from the basement as he started the song started clapping and saying how good the song was. The clapping brought Martha out of her amazed daze and she was practically bouncing with excitement at an idea she had.

"We should totally put that on YouTube and see if we can get it to go viral," Martha said. She had been into the recent YouTube sensations and had been wanting to make a video of her own go viral and this was her chance. Everyone but Troy was all for it, after all he was the one in the video, but after much pleading and begging from everyone including the very properly behaved Mark, Troy gave in and agreed.

"To get more views we should tag a song that is well known. If you did a cover of a popular song when people do a search for that song your video will come up. When they watch it there will be link for 'Boston' which will get it more views," said Martha.

After much debate over which song to play it was decided that he would sing and play 'Fire' by Augustana. Troy then proceeded to play 'Fire' this time with Martha doing the video taping. When he was finished they went back to the basement where Martha had her laptop in her bag. Between Kelsi and Martha both of the videos were edited and formatted for YouTube and then loaded onto Troy's channel. He had loaded other videos of himself playing the piano that he shared with them before. At his old school he set up a video camera in the music room where he gave piano lessons to record some of his playing. He put them on YouTube so that Kelsi could see them. Out of all of his cousins they were the closest because they kept in contact through Facebook, Skype, and YouTube. They shared a passion for music, both composing many of their own music. They had actually managed to collaborate on a few pieces with out meeting in person, no one else really new about that because neither was very confident in their own abilities but they spent a lot of time encouraging each other. After the excitement of the video had calmed down they went back to going through his photography archive books to choose which photos to frame and making more accessories out of the glass containers and fillers that he had.

Around 5:00 Lucy, Emma, and Mira got home. They took a few hours to get the girls register for school because Emma was insistent that she should be in first grade. The lady that was doing the paper work decided to indulge the girl a bit and had her take a placement test. She was quite surprised when Emma did very well on it and more that earned a place in the first grade. After they were registered Lucy took them school shopping. A few new clothes that were more weather appropriate for the desert that New Mexico was located in that than colder climate of Chicago. New backpacks, lunch boxes, binders, and other supplies were all gotten at Target. After a quick text to Troy seeing if his cousins were still there she got a few pizzas for everyone.

The pizzas were eaten at Troy's new table and they got to sit on actual chairs. There was no other furniture in the rest of the house after all including no chairs or table in the kitchen upstairs. So they enjoyed having dinner while not sitting on the floor. After Lucy was done eating she took a much slower tour of her son's place. He had done a wonderful job on creating a space that was both very elegant and cozy at the same time. The colors and furniture that he picked out would allow him to grow with the space without having to redecorate in a few years when he matured even more then he already was. Just by looking at the place you would not believe that a 16 almost 17 year old lived there. She loved how he was displaying so many of the photos that he had taken. She made her way into Elijah's room and discovered that only the rocking chair was put together, she frowned in confusion as to why none of the other furniture was. She tried out the rocking chair and found it to be very comfortable. She then made her way back out to the dinning room.

"So, what do you think of the place Mom?" asked Troy as she came back out.

"I love it. I love how you are displaying your photos. I can't wait to see your room once Eli wakes up." Troy grinned at her answer.

While they had been eating Troy had asked about the academic side of East High, having already gotten the athletic side, this time Martha took the lead. She talked about all the clubs, just about every subject had one, and about honors and advanced placement classes. After dinner had been cleaned up she pulled out her laptop again and pulled up the schools website. He took notes on the graduation requirements, electives that are offered, clubs, sports, and a few other things that he found interesting. Between taking notes he took care of Eli when he woke up, showed his mom his room, and said good bye to some of his cousins. Martha and Kelsi had stayed until he was done with the computer as Martha was Kelsi's ride and he was using Martha's computer. Good byes and thank yous were said. Soon it was just Troy, Eli, Lucy and the girls there. It was getting late so Lucy and the girls went upstairs to get ready for bed leaving Troy and Eli alone. Troy was exhausted so he went to bed early that night.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: if you recognize it it's not mine.

PLEASE check out my profile page to see links for pictures of the furniture and baby stuff that I mention in this story. I spent a lot of time finding it all maybe even more time than in writing the story.

HELP ME PLEASE: I have stuff written for this story until Troy starts school and an outline for his first day of school and a few ideas for beyond that. But I would like my readers input on things that they would like to see happen in the story. Please either send me ideas in a review or a PM. I will give you credit if I use your idea. THANK YOU!

AN: Eli was born three weeks early making him a Preemie. He was small because of that and the mother's unwillingness to take in proper nutriments during the pregnancy in hopes of making Troy's life harder. Eli however only had a low birth weight but was other wise mostly healthy. He may later have asthma or other health issues but there was nothing to keep him in the hospital longer than a week. I have added a picture of Eli in my profile; its of a very life like doll but its how I picture him. His Eyes are blue just like Troy's. As far as Troy's look I think of him as how he looked in Charlie St. Cloud for his hair style and maturity. I believe having a child would make him grow up that much faster.

Happy reading ;D

Pumpkinking5 this one is for you, thanks for reviewing every chapter I look forward to your reviews they lift my spirits.

Chapter 5: Tuesday

It was shortly after one in the morning when Lucy quietly made her way into the basement. She had felt that she was needed by her son. Sometimes she had these feelings with all of her children and they always proved true so this time like all the others she went to see what her child needed. She found Troy asleep in the rocking chair holding Eli who was also asleep. Seeing that neither needed her right away she went into Troy's room and picked up the camera that was on the TV console table in there. She managed to take quite a few pictures without waking either one of them. When she was sure that she had captured the moment adequately she returned the camera to where she got it from and then proceeded to wake Troy up. A gentle hand on one of his hands that were holding Eli was enough to wake him. "Troy dear, if you sleep in the chair all night you will be hurting in the morning," she said to him when he had registered that she was there and had woke him. He made a hum sound and then gently stood up, went to his room, put Eli in his bed with out him waking, and then crawled into his own bed. Lucy pulled his covers up and tucked him in like she use to do when he was younger, sat on the edge of his bed, and ran her fingers through his hair.

"I remember when you brought me home from the hospital after the car accident, I would get nightmares from it, Dad would hold me and rock me in that rocking chair you had set up in Kat's room. His heart beat was the only thing that would calm me down and I would fall asleep in his arms. I wish he would still love me like he did then," Troy said as he was falling asleep to her gentle movement.

"He still loves you Troy, he's just hurting right now, but he still loves you," she said as she kissed his forehead. Now that he was asleep she went back to her bed.

"What did you go do Luce?" Jack asked as she climbed into bed and lay down.

"I checked on Troy, I was having one of my feelings, I found him asleep holding Eli in the rocker. I sent him to bed so that he wouldn't hurt in the morning."

"You sound upset."

"I am. Troy thinks that you don't love him anymore Jack, and I don't blame him with the way you have been treating him for the last ten and a half months. You act as if it was his fault he was raped, if he was a girl you would not be acting like this. The double standards you hold him up to are getting old fast Jack."

"I don't blame him Lucy, I don't, I blame myself. If I had not made him go to that party, if I had not pushed him into having a girlfriend especially Lena, none of that would have happened," said Jack in a hurt voice as he sat up and looked at Lucy.

"Then you need to tell Troy that you don't blame him. Have you at least apologized to him for making him go to the party?" asked Lucy.

"No I haven't really talked to him about that night at all," was his reply.

"You need to Jack, if you don't you will lose him. Apologize to him and let him know that you don't blame him. Then you need to at least hold your grandson, he is seven weeks old and you have not held him once," she said.

"Alright, Lucy I'll talk to Troy and if he will let me I will hold Eli," he replied.

"Good. Now while we are talking about them, I need your help finding a psychologist for Troy, preferably one that works on the weekends so Troy doesn't have to miss school. I also need to find a baby sitter for our girls and Eli. I asked about baby sitters at the family dinner and struck out. They either stayed at home when their kids were babies, got off work early enough so that they didn't need after school care, or had a live in nanny. None of those are options for us," said Lucy.

"I can ask around at work tomorrow about baby sitters and I'll find out what my medical insurance will cover for the psychologist," he said. They both went to sleep shortly after that.

…

Troy spent a few hours Tuesday morning finishing put his stuff away. He emptied the few boxes of stuff that he had left. He also finished putting photos in frames and putting them where he wanted them. He also arranged the glass jar accessories that had been made where he wanted them. When he was done he was pretty much satisfied with the place, he just needed to get some of the pictures that he had taken of Elijah developed and framed. He would get a few printed at the store and wait to do a few in his photography class at school. When he was done he made a list of things that he needed, most of which were school supplies. While doing all of this Troy had Eli strapped to his chest in his baby carrier. With some adaptations he had made Eli secured so he wasn't jostled around when he bent over and back up again; his small size was not an issue; nor was he in danger of being smothered; and his head was supported since he could not do it himself yet.

Since he had the time and the girls' furniture had not been delivered yet he decided to look through the notes that he had made in his notebook from the East High's website. After checking off the classes he had already taken on their graduation requirement check list he found that there was very little that he had left to do. He thought that there might even be a chance for him to graduate a year early. He didn't have much time to dwell on it at the moment because the girls' furniture was being delivered.

Troy spent the day helping his mom and sisters putting furniture together and arranging the girls' rooms. He took breaks or did an advisory role while Eli was awake and wanting to be held, fed, or changed. Much of the girls' furniture didn't need a lot of construction. By early afternoon all that was left was for the girls to put their stuff away and add accessories. Kat insisted that she could unpack the rest of her stuff on her own and arrange her own accessories so she did. Lucy helped Emma with her stuff while Troy helped Mira. When Troy got Mira to the point where she could and wanted to do the rest on her own he went downstairs and played the piano until Eli woke up from his afternoon nap.

When Lucy was finished helping Emma with her room she started calling the people on the list of piano teachers that her mother had given her. Of the eight names on the list only four were willing to give in person interviews. The other four simply said that they did not have the time for anymore students at the moment or the foreseeable future and therefore would not waste their time on an in person interview. The other four she made appointments to meet, two on Thursday and two on Friday. When she was done she went to talk to Troy who at that point was back in the basement.

"Troy," she called as she walked down the basement stairs.

"In my room mom," he called back to her.

As she entered his room she saw Troy sitting on his bed playing with Eli. "Hey, mama what up?" he asked.

"Are you going to have time to give your sisters piano lessons this year? Are you also going to give other kids lessons?" she asked.

"If I give most of the lessons on weekends including the girls' and they practice in the evenings during the week I should. Why?" he replied.

"I called the people on the list that my mother gave me. I made appointments to meet with them on Thursday and Friday. I figured that you might want to scope out your competition if you were going to give lessons, plus I can honestly tell my mother that I met with those she recommended and still preferred you over any of them," she said getting a grin out of Troy.

"Hum, that is so devious of you mother," said Troy in a joking manner.

"Hum, I suppose it is, isn't it?" she said and then paused for a moment, "I will see if my mother will still pay for the lessons. Do you know how much you are going to charge yet for your other students when you get them?" she asked.

"I don't know it depends on a few things. Here I don't have to pay to use a music room but the parents would have to bring their kids here so that will affect the price. Also it depends on what the competition charges, which we will find out soon. I don't want to charge more than the competition but I also don't want to undercharge either," he said.

"Well let's find out what the average price is around here and then you can decide on what you will charge," she said.

"Okay," he replied.

"I talked to your Grandma Sophie yesterday. We are combining the house warming party with the baby shower if that is okay with you. We figured that you wouldn't want all of the attention on you and with the parties combined it wouldn't be. Plus with one party it is a lot less work and this house will only be a completely crazy only once," said Lucy.

"Hum, its okay with me, when is the party?" asked Troy.

"Next Saturday," she said.

"Okay, gives us enough time to plan and have the house ready," said Troy.

"Sophie wants a picture of Eli to put in the invitations," said Lucy.

"Hum, I have a better idea. When Grandma mentioned the baby shower before we moved I did a little research to see what happens at one. By the way I will not be participating in most of those games that are meant for the still pregnant mom. I found a few games that could be adapted to Eli already being here and there being no mother but, I'll get to that later. The point was that the etiquette sections of the sites say that everyone is suppose to go home with something, besides things won from the games. I was thinking instead of stupid meaningless baby shaped trinkets they could get a picture of Eli that has his birthday, birth weight and height, and my name on there somewhere as his father. The pictures can be printed as magnets to make them a bit more substantial than just a photo but, putting a picture in the invitation kind of defeats that idea."

"That sound like a better idea to me, I'll run it by Sophie, and we will talk later about the game ideas you have. I think your father just got home though so I will see you in a bit at dinner."

"Okay, see you at dinner."

…

"Hello Jack dear, how was your day?" said Lucy as she hugged and kissed him when he entered the kitchen from the garage.

"It was okay, how was yours?" he asked in return.

"It went well; the girls' rooms are done for the most part. They are arranging their stuff the way they want it now."

"I should go see them."

"No Jack that can wait until after dinner when the girls can show you themselves. Help me get dinner ready while you tell me what you found about doctors and baby sitters," she said as she got stuff out for making dinner.

"Alright," he replied, "I got a list of doctors that my insurance covers that includes psychologist. I put stars next to the pediatricians that were recommended to me by the other coaches; none of them had a need for a psychologist though."

"Well that's better than what we had before."

"I got a list of baby sitters also. I called them during my breaks and was able to narrow down the list from seven to three. One I eliminated because it was on the other side of town and didn't have any openings anyway. Two others only did after school care so they would not be able to watch Eli. The fourth only had one opening and it was for a child over the age of two. The three remaining have enough openings for three kids and are closer to us. Two are in home and one is a facility. I think the facility can be eliminated because they do not do school runs, the girls would have to take a bus to and from there which wouldn't be so bad if Emma's and Mira's personalities were switched but with what they are we would be asking for trouble making them ride a bus. Of the in home ones one lady seamed better than the other. She was very happy sounding and welcoming like she wanted to watch the kids. The other sounded like it was chore for her. I printed out maps and directions to all three and made notes when I talked to them. I told them to be expecting your call to make appointments to visit them."

"Okay, thank you Jack." After that they finished preparing dinner while talking more about what they had done that day just enjoying being in each others presence. When they were done they carried the food down to the basement with the girls help. Jack got his first real look around the basement since it had been painted. He was shocked at how mature the place looked, he was expecting bean bags and video games not this sophisticated look that would go well upstairs.

"I like what you have done with the place Troy," said Jack after he finished looking around even in the bedrooms.

"Thanks dad I'm glad you do," replied Troy as he sat at his table while holding Eli. This was a family dinner and he though that should include Eli.

Over dinner the girls talked about their rooms and other insignificant stuff. Troy mostly sat there and listened to them hardly talking at all when he did it was mostly answering questions that he had been asked. When dinner was over they all helped clean up leaving Troy's place clean. Jack followed the girls up to their rooms to see what they had done with them leaving Lucy with a down trodden Troy.

"He's coming around Troy, just give him a little more time," said Lucy while giving him a hug.

After Troy seamed a bit more up beat Lucy brought up the nursery furniture that still needed to be put together. "I thought you might want to help me put them together," was Troy's reply.

"I would like that very much. Let's get started," she replied. So they spend the evening putting together the crib. The dresser just needed the changing table top put on it. They arranged the room with the changing table dresser on the wall that is shared with the bathroom; the crib was centered on the wall opposite the windows; the rocking chair they kept in the corner by the window where Troy had put it when it arrived. Together they put the bedding on the crib, window coverings up, lamp on the side table by the rocking chair, wall hangings on the wall, rug on the floor, and mobile on the crib.

As they had put the furniture together Lucy told Troy about the baby sitters that Jack had talked to. Lucy would call them and make appointments to visit them. All of them would go to the meetings to make sure they were all satisfied with the finial decision. That night Troy went to bed thinking about all that he had to do in the next few days.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: if you recognize it it's not mine.

PLEASE check out my profile page to see links for pictures of the furniture and baby stuff that I mention in this story. I spent a lot of time finding it all maybe even more time than in writing the story.

HELP ME PLEASE: I have stuff written for this story until Troy starts school and an outline for his first day of school and a few ideas for beyond that. But I would like my readers input on things that they would like to see happen in the story. Please either send me ideas in a review or a PM. I will give you credit if I use your idea. THANK YOU!

Chapter 6: Wednesday, 24 August, Eli 7 weeks old

Troy was up at 6:00 as usual with Eli. Today he was going to the high school to register. When he had gone on line to the school website to check out the requirements for this school district and to see what electives he could take he had found that he had more than half of the graduation requirements completed, in fact he had very little to complete. The schools that he went to in Chicago had a different system then the one here in Albuquerque. The junior and senior high schools worked together to give the students the best education that they could. At his school in Chicago the first two years of high school were very structured to build a stronger base on many subjects that his junior high school laid a foundation for. About the only thing that was the same was that the junior high started in sixth grade. The class requirements were different though. Both systems had the same basic classes when it came to English, history, math, and science but they differed in when they were taken. The Chicago system also had more required class in the lower years. In Chicago foreign language was required to be started in sixth grade and continued for four years, after that you had a choice to continue or not. Here only one year was required before high school graduation. Troy had taken five years of Spanish, three years of Latin, and two years of French. Latin was required in sixth through eighth grade along with another foreign language. Learning two together reinforced one another. The Latin also helped with English. Since he had the room in his schedule after the Latin stopped he took French in its stead. For math he had already taken algebra I and II, geometry, and trigonometry. For science he had taken earth science, physical science, biology, and chemistry. The geography and history classes were integrated together where the geography of where every the place in history that was being taught was studied along with it. The history classes were split into two time periods where the first half was taught one year and the second half another year. He had two years of both US History and World History. He had also been required to take a computer class and a health class. He had also taken PE every year. Due to the higher number of requirements of his schools in Chicago, Troy only needed to take two more years of English, math in his senior year, and one semester each of government and economics to meet the graduation requirements of East High.

His meeting at school later that morning would be quite interesting for sure. Lucy had arranged a 9:00 am meeting at East High School for Troy and a 10:00 am meeting at East Junior High School for Kat. Jack was staying home with Emma and Mira. Troy was taking Eli with him to the meeting. Troy spent the morning getting both himself and Eli ready. Troy was taking his backpack with him which he put his transcripts and notes he had taken on Monday night and the day before about what classes he wanted to take. He had also put some of the money he had saved from giving piano lessons in his wallet. He hoped that his mom would be taking them school shopping after as she had his other sisters. He needed to get a computer and printer for his desk. He was hoping to find a laptop and printer set that would be in his price range.

They were on the road by 8:30 am and had made it to the schools by 8:45 am. The two schools were basically one big campus. There were three main buildings connected by covered or enclosed walkways. The building in the middle was the library and on either side were the main high school and junior high school buildings. A high walled iron fence surrounded the junior high to keep the junior high kids in and the senior high kids out. As they found out later the library was constructed in such a way that each school only had access to half of the building thus keeping the students separated. They were in the main office of the high school by 8:55 and in the meeting at 9:00 am. There were two people in the conference room that they were shown into sitting on one side of the twelve person conference table when they entered. The Boltons sat on the other side of the table as the introductions were made. The man was the Vice Principal, Mr. Potter, which got grins from the kids, and the woman was a councilor, Mrs. Whitman. Small talk was made for a few minutes until Troy brought it to a stop because he didn't know how long it would take to do what Lucy needed to be there for. While Lucy was filling out the paper work Eli had started to fuss so Troy took him out of his car seat and held him which quieted him right down. It was 9:40 when Lucy had finished the paperwork so quick pleasantries were made before she left with Kat to head over to the junior high.

"Troy, are you okay with Eli?" asked Lucy as she was leaving.

"Yes, Mom I'll be fine," he replied.

After they left, those left in the room settled down back at the table and Troy handed over his transcript from Chicago to Mrs. Whitman to check off what requirements he had already met while Mr. Potter entered the paper work into the computer. Troy sat back holding Eli and alternated between entertaining him and being entertained by Mrs. Whitman's facial expressions as she checked and double checked all the requirements that he already met. When she was done she had a look of disbelief on her face but soon cleared it and got to business.

"Based on this school district's graduation requirements you only need to take four to five more classes to graduate. As I see it you have two basic options, one you take a bunch of electives and spend the full two years here or two, graduate early," said Mrs. Whitman.

"How early are we talking here a semester or a year?" asked Troy.

"A year early if you took all of the classes this year," was her reply.

"What would I be taking?" asked Troy.

"You need to take Government, Economics, math, and English. Government and Economics are a semester each. Based on the classes you have already taken I would put you in twelfth grade English, possibly the AP class. For math you have a choice between calculus and home economics. The rest of your classes would be up to you to choose," said Mrs. Whitman.

Troy took a few minutes to think his options over. He had guessed that early graduation may have been a possibility after he had compared East High's requirements to what he had done in Chicago. He had been thinking about that all day Tuesday and had talked to his mom about it, she said the decision was up to him to make. There were pros and cons to both staying the full two years and only staying one. In the end he had made a decision based on what was best in the long run.

"I'll graduate early," he finally decided.

"Okay then, lets pick your classes," she replied.

Troy ended up having Drama, Government, AP Calculus, and Photography 3 on Mondays and Thursdays with drama being replaced with Family Sociology and Government replaced with Economics in the second semester. On Tuesdays and Fridays he has AP English, French 3, AP Physics, and Sports PE. On Wednesdays he would have all of the classes plus and additional free period. After Troy was enrolled in all of his classes a schedule was printed for him. The teachers for the three AP classes he was taking had assigned summer work for the classes that he would also have to do so the teachers were e-mailed to tell them to e-mail Troy the assignments and then Mrs. Whitman escorted Troy to the Library to get the books for those classes. He ended up with three textbooks, one for each class, and two novel books, one a collection of Shakespeare and the other surprisingly was The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. He put all of the books inside his backpack as they were checked out to him. He was also taken to a back room where his picture was taken and a student ID was made for him. Apparently the school found it cheaper to make the cards themselves rather than have a company come every year to do it for them. After Troy was all set he said good bye to Mrs. Whitman and headed to the SUV.

He took Eli out of his car seat to change him and then feed him. He had put formula in a thermos to keep it warm. Troy sat in the SUV to wait for his mom and sister to be done. After a fifteen minute wait they joined him in the SUV. They then went to go school supply shopping.

Both Troy and Kat got a few new clothes, new shoes, and new backpacks. Troy found his clothes and shoes faster than his sister so he went to look in the baby section first and then the electronic section. He found the bottle inserts, diapers, and diaper wipes that he needed. Eli was finally big enough to ware size 0 instead of the preemie size. He also found a five pack set of onesies and three pack footed sleepers. He thought that they were cute and the ones that he had were starting to wear out because he only had ten onesies and three sleepers. He decided to only get the two packs because he figured that he would get more at the baby shower. In the electronic section he found the laptop and printer set that he wanted. While in that section he paid for the baby stuff and the computer set. By the time he made it back over to the clothes section his sister was just putting the last of the clothes she was getting in their shopping cart.

"What did you get Troy?" asked Kat when she saw him pushing his cart towards them.

"The laptop and printer that I wanted and a few things that I needed for Eli," he replied.

"How did you pay for that?" Kat asked.

"I used some of the money I have saved from giving piano lessons. I need a computer and printer for school that I won't have to share with you, Mira, or Emma. I'll have too much to do to have to share. Plus since it's a laptop I can take it to school with me," replied Troy.

"Let's go find backpacks," said Lucy. She had known of Troy's plan to get a laptop and printer and was okay with it because she knew that he needed them. Troy got a backpack that was big enough to fit a few textbooks, binders, and his new laptop. Kat got a similar one but looked a bit more girly than Troy's. By the time that they were done shopping they were starving so they stopped and ate lunch at In n' Out Burgers. They were home by 2:00pm.

Troy spent the afternoon setting up his laptop and printer. Once he had the internet up and running he checked his e-mail for his AP class assignments. Troy was required to work through the introduction and first chapters of his Physics and Calculus textbooks, and read 'The Fellowship of the Ring' part one of the 'Lord of the Rings'. He had a lot of work to do in a week. He decided to do the calculus work first and got started.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: if you recognize it it's not mine.

PLEASE check out my profile page to see links for pictures of the furniture and baby stuff that I mention in this story. I spent a lot of time finding it all maybe even more time than in writing the story.

HELP ME PLEASE: I have stuff written for this story until Troy starts school and an outline for his first day of school and a few ideas for beyond that. But I would like my readers input on things that they would like to see happen in the story. Please either send me ideas in a review or a PM. I will give you credit if I use your idea. THANK YOU!

Chapter 7: The week leading up to the party

Thursday and Friday were spent interviewing piano teachers and daycare providers. Lucy and Troy took the girls and Eli to the meetings while Jack stayed home and supervised the delivery of the rest of the furniture for the house. The piano teacher interviews were in the mornings and the daycare interviews were in the afternoon.

Lucy and Troy agreed that the daycare facility was not the right place for the kids to be. Besides the girls having to ride the bus the place was large and the kids wouldn't be given much individual attention. For Emma and Mira that would not be much of a problem but for Eli it would. Troy wanted the best that he could provide for his son and the facility was definitely not it.

The first in home daycare they went to was run by a woman named Beth Boone. She was the woman that Jack thought sounded like watching kids was a chore. Neither Lucy nor Troy really liked her. She was nice to them and the kids but something just did not feel right to them. She also had a bit of a disgusted look on her face when she was told Eli was Troy's son. After an hour interview they left and said they would call and let her know their decision later.

The second in home daycare that they went to was run by Jane Hanson. Both Troy and Lucy liked her right away. They first got a tour of her home to see where the kids would play and take naps. Eli would be in a bedroom by himself. There was a nice crib that only he would be using. There were three other kids that she was watching, two where in school at East Elementary in first and third grade who were brother and sister, the third was a three year old girl. Eli would be the youngest one there so he got the crib. The three year old girl slept on a cot in the other bedroom. If Emma or Mira needed or wanted to take a nap after school she had another cot for Emma and Mira could use the bed or couch. There was plenty of room in the house for all of the kids to play and plenty of toys for all ages. The front and back yards were large so playing out side would be possible. The street that Jane lived on was a quiet one that got very little traffic so playing out front would be safe.

After the tour Jane, Lucy, and Troy sat at the kitchen table while the girls went and played. Jane got out her paperwork that had the contracts that she had parents sign and had all of papers that showed she was allowed and qualified to run the daycare in her home. Once Lucy was satisfied that her licensing was up to date they started talking logistics. Jane started at 6:00 am and closed at 7:00 pm; she would take the kids to school and pick them up; breakfast and afternoon snack would be provided, lunch when there was no school; sick kids had to stay home, if they got sick while at her house they had two hours to get someone to pick the sick child up; and Troy would have to provide his own diapers, wipes, formula, and anything else that Eli used. For the three kids Mira, Emma, and Eli she would charge $300 a week, $100 for each kid. If Kat needed to be there she would charge $25 a day, $15 if it was only after school. Troy would drop the kids off on his way to school in the mornings and pick them up on the way home. If Lucy or Jack got off first then they would pick the kids up. Jane's was the best place, she had openings for all of the kids, would do school runs, and was open for the long hours that they needed. Jane also had no issue with Eli being Troy's son.

Paperwork was filled out by both Lucy and Troy; they each were given a copy for their own records. Lucy wrote a check for $200 for her two kids and Troy paid $100 in cash for Eli for the first week. They were both given receipts. Troy was going to pay for Eli as long as he could afford it. He planed on using the money he was going to get for giving piano lessons to pay for what ever Eli would need including daycare. After the paperwork was finished they said good bye, got the girls, and left. Troy was not looking forward to the Monday after next when he would have to leave Eli with someone else for the first time. They had decided to have the kids start on Monday even though Troy didn't start school until Wednesday to make sure that there were a few days for everyone to get use to daycare with out the added pressure of a first day of school. It was mostly for Troy to get over his anxiety. He would be able to call when ever he needed to without getting in trouble for using his cell phone at school and if there was an actual issue he could go over if it was needed. Troy would also be able to spend two days finishing up the summer assignments for his AP classes.

….

Troy paid more attention to what was said during the piano interviews than his mom or sisters. He took lots of notes for later reference. All four of the instructors were older women who were very strict and proper; they would have fit in well living one hundred years in the past. Not one of his sisters liked any of the women. All of them charged $100 per one hour lesson and did not include any of the music books that they used. They would have to find them at a music store if they wanted their own copy. The books themselves were old fashioned and boring to the girls and Troy. They also didn't provide any supplementary material. After the last meeting it was decided that Troy would continue to give the girls lessons.

On Friday night after the last interview, both piano and daycare, Troy called a few of his cousins to talk about who they had for piano instructors, what there lessons were like, and how much they cost. He found that most were like the women that they had talked to and the few that weren't were no longer giving lessons. They had all charged $100 a lesson as was the standard around there. After talking to his cousins he formulated a plan for his lessons for his sisters and for hopeful future students.

When Troy had first started giving lessons back in Chicago he created a lesson book that accompanied a series of piano lesson books. He expanded on the lessons in the book and created practice songs that were more interesting to play than just repeating notes and chords like most lesson books do. He still had all his students practice repeated notes and chords also but he made it more fun and less annoying to the student and those who have to listen to them practicing. The book series he chose had a CD with it that had all the lessons in the book recorded on it. He incorporated the CD into their practicing. He also made a full size keyboard out of paper that he laminated. Each key had an empty box to write what note it is and above the keys was music paper to write the notes as they would appear on a sheet of music. It was laminated not only to keep it protected to last longer but to be able to use dry erase markers on it for repeated use. He organized everything in a binder for each student to keep with them. Troy had master copies of the three levels plus the copies of each that he used regularly while giving the lessons. Troy made a list of all the stuff he would need to buy to make more of each level. He also called a few music stores in the area to see if they carried the series of lesson books that he used, they did and had them in stalk. Troy decided to make five new copies of his binders for each level for new students. He already had each level for his sisters set up and they were using them. Troy spent some time creating a flier to advertise his piano lessons. On it he included the book he used, supplemental material, that the lessons were at his house, and that it was $75 per one hour lesson. He had his phone number on it and to call for more information. He printed a few and was going to make photocopies later.

After he was satisfied with his plans for the music books and lesson plans he started on more of his summer homework. He hoped to have the calculus assignments done that weekend.

Saturday morning while his sisters slept in and Jack and Lucy rearranged the new furniture, several times, Troy took Eli with him to get the supplies he needed for his piano lessons. He first went to an office supply store and bought all of the binders and other materials there. He also made all of the copies that he needed to while there including the ones of his flier. The lamination of the keyboards and music paper sheets was also done there. It took him an hour to be done there, most of it spent at the copy machine.

Next he went to the music stores in the area. There were three that sold mostly music and few instruments and two that sold mostly instruments and little music. At the first store he went to he bought the music books for the lessons and browsed a bit to see what else they had but didn't get anything else. With the owners permission his flier was posted in the window and extras were put on the counter. He talked to the people who worked their about his lessons so that if they were asked questions by customers they could answer some of them.

At the other two stores that sold music he bought some sheet music for himself, he needed to learn new songs to play at family dinners. At each he left fliers to be posted in windows and on counters. At the instrument selling music stores he didn't buy anything but they both were willing to display the fliers. Troy made it back home by 11:00 am. He spent two hours putting his lesson books together. He spent the rest of the day taking care of Eli and doing homework.

…

On Sunday Troy finished his calculus homework and helped Lucy plan for the combined house warming party and baby shower. The rest of the week was spent doing homework taking care of Eli and getting ready for the party. Any shopping that needed to be done was done on Wednesday and food preparation was done on Thursday and Friday.

On Tuesday Jack took Troy to get a truck. He got a black truck that had a full sized back seat. It's a 2004 Ford F-150 Lariat. The truck also had a tool box in the bed that stretched across the back of the cab. Troy was excited that he would have a vehicle of his own.

…..

On Sunday and Monday he got several calls from people wanting to know more about his piano lessons. For a few of them he just had to talk to them on the phone while others he set up meetings with. The people he only talked on the phone with either didn't want a 16 year old giving their child piano lessons or they did not like his more kid friendly approach to the lessons. He had meetings with eight parents and their kids four of which signed up for his lessons. Starting the weekend after the first week of school he would give lessons on Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 to 10:00 am and 10:30 to 11:30 am. He would give lessons to his sisters on weekday nights and weekend evenings.

…

Everyday Troy took Eli for a run in his stroller around the neighborhood. On a few of his runs he ran into Gabriella, not literally, and they would talk for a bit. Troy would tell her about what he had been up to since they had last spoken, usually about how his homework was going and the preparation for the party. Gabriella and her family were going to the party. Their houses were actually directly behind each other and shared a connecting backyard. There actually weren't fences separating yards in that area. If anyone had dogs they either had those electric underground fences or rod iron fences that you could see through but the dogs couldn't get through. Troy had also met Gabriella's twin brothers Adrian and Julian who his cousin Mark had referred to as the Montez Twins at the family dinner. Gabriella and Troy spent quite a bit of time talking about their classes. Troy was happy to hear that they would still have a few classes together despite Troy technically being a senior because he was graduating early. They would have Drama, French 3, AP Calculus, and AP Physics together. She was still debating about what class she would take second semester to replace Drama; currently it was between Psychology and Family Sociology. After hearing that Troy was taking Family Sociology that class got a few more points in its column. On his Thursday run Gabriella followed him back to his house to see it for the first time. They talked on the way about the odd choice of book his English teacher had. Neither ever believed that 'The Lord of Rings' would be selected by an English teacher as a novel for the whole class to read especially after it was made into movies. Troy was about a third of the way through 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. Between working on his other assignments, preparing for the party, and taking care of Eli he didn't have much time to read so after a week of getting maybe an hour a day to read he was progressing quite well. He had been able to finish both his calculus and physics assignments though so all he had left to do was read. He figured he would spend Monday and Tuesday reading it to help keep his mind off of Eli being at daycare and not with him.

When they got back to his house Troy lead Gabriella down to the basement through the back entrance. He gave her a quick tour of Elijah's room as he laid Eli down in his crib for his nap. He was slowly adjusting Eli to sleeping in there having Eli only sleep in Troy's room at night. After Eli was down he continued the tour first going through the connecting bathroom into his bedroom. She liked his choice in furniture and simplistic décor. When he came back out to the living room area with Gabriella she looked around the room and was currently looking at the large print black and white photos he had displayed in the dinning room on the studio shelves and entrance table.

"I like these," she said pointing to the photos, "there is something about them being large and in black and white that brings more life to them than small color prints."

"I agree. I like experimenting with black and white photos and having them in large prints helps. Those are some of my favorites."

"You mean you took these photos?" she asked.

"All but that one there, that's me with my parents, but I did restore the picture it came from and made a black and white large print photo from it. The rest of these I took. Not all of them were originally like this though. I manipulated regular color prints to get some of these."

"Well they're lovely," she said turning to him.

"So, what is this list that your mother was asking if you had with you?" asked Troy with a half grin on his face.

"Oh, you heard that did you?" she asked.

"Yep," he said popping the p.

"Well my mom made a list of everything she believes is absolutely essential for a kitchen to have and believes it's a crime if it doesn't. I'm supposed to check your kitchen for the stuff on the list so that she can get you some of the stuff that you don't have for your house warming gift," she answered.

"Let me see the list and I will save you from having to look through my empty cupboards," he said holding out his hand for the list. He didn't have anything on the list. "I don't have anything on here," he said handing the list back to her. "Mom figured that they might get some of that stuff and would give me what they ended up having doubles of. After the party we were going to get what I still needed. I figured, but didn't tell mom, that they wouldn't be getting any of that kind of stuff because this is not their first house and everyone invited to the party knows that. Also only a few of my cousins know that this area is mine and that I have a full sized kitchen to stalk. The rest of the family most likely thinks I just have a bedroom, besides if any of them get me anything it will probably actually be for Eli."

"Do you need anything for Elijah?" she asked next.

"I could always use more clothes, blankets, bottles, pacifiers, diapers, wipes, baby shampoo, and formula. He doesn't need anything big, I got all of that already; it's the stuff he uses every day that I can always use more of. If you want I can write down the brands and sizes of stuff I use for him," he offered.

"That would be great actually, it will make things easier for my mom and me later," she replied.

"You do know that you don't have to buy anything for me just coming to the party is enough of a present," he said as he wrote down what Eli used.

"It would be rude if we didn't but I will make you a deal, I will stop my mom from getting everything on both of these lists if you allow her to get you at least one thing from each," she said knowing that her mother would at least insist on that much.

"Okay, you have a deal," he said with a laugh, "shall we shake on it?" he said holding out his hand. She laughed and shook his hand. Troy then finished her tour of the basement and then showed her upstairs where he introduced her to his mom and gave her a tour of the rest of the house. Shortly after he finished the tour she had to go back home.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: if you recognize it it's not mine.

PLEASE check out my profile page to see links for pictures of the furniture and baby stuff that I mention in this story. I spent a lot of time finding it all maybe even more time than in writing the story.

HELP ME PLEASE: I have stuff written for this story until Troy starts school and an outline for his first day of school and a few ideas for beyond that. But I would like my readers input on things that they would like to see happen in the story. Please either send me ideas in a review or a PM. I will give you credit if I use your idea. THANK YOU!

This is the last of my pre-written chapters so the next update may take longer than a week. If you have ideas for stuff you want to see in this story send them to me in a review and you might get faster updates.

Chapter 8: The Party

Saturday dawned bright and early in the Bolton house. Troy was up with Eli at 6:00 am as usual. Troy spent an hour and a half cleaning the basement; he vacuumed, dusted, and straightened everything up. He put his new laptop in his backpack in his closet so that no one took it; he wasn't going to take that chance. He put all of his dishes away including all of Elijah's bottles. He gave Eli a bath and then cleaned his bathroom and then took a shower himself. He had himself and Eli dressed in his frog PJs, which he got last week at Target, so that if he got breakfast on them it wouldn't matter. He had what they were going to wear to the party laid out oh his bed to change into later. Troy had picked out a Winnie the Pooh outfit that consisted of a light blue shirt with a dark blue collar, blue plaid overalls with Pooh bear and Tiger on the front, with matching plaid shoes. He ordered that outfit and a few others online when they had first moved there. It was around 8:00 am when he went upstairs to have breakfast.

"Morning Mama," Troy said in greeting to his mother who was cooking breakfast.

"Morning sweetie, how are you and my grandson doing this morning?" she asked as he kissed her on the cheek and held Eli so he could do the same.

"We're both doing well. I have downstairs ready for the party, I just have to dress us both in what we are going to wear to the party later I didn't want to get breakfast on them.

"That's good, your father is getting the girls up, why don't you help me finish getting breakfast on the table," she said as she started to put the food on the table. Troy did as she asked and they had the table set and ready when the girls and Jack came down the stairs. After a quick round of good mornings everyone ate. As Lucy finished her breakfast she laid out the plan for the rest of the morning and for the party.

"When you are done eating girls you need to get ready for the party. Your rooms need to be neat and ready for inspection and you need to be dressed in what I approved last night for you to wear. Boys you will help me clean up breakfast and get everything set up. Jack after the furniture is set up the way I want it you can do what you need to out side. Troy you can then get yourself and Eli ready and then come back up here to finish helping me set everything out that can go out now. I also want you to set the stuff for the baby shower out in the grand room so that when its time for that part of the party there will be an easier set up." With that everyone did what they were told to do. By 10:30 they were ready for the party to start.

Lucy opened the door to the first guests at 10:55 who were her parents. She led them into the grand room where they placed their house warming and baby shower gifts on the two designated tables. Richard joined Jack who was out on the deck getting the barbeque going while Amanda joined Lucy in the kitchen where she was starting to get more of the food that had been in the refrigerator out and setting it out on the tables in the gathering room. Alex and Sophie Bolton showed up a few minutes later. By 11:30 all of the family had arrived and a few of the neighbors.

Jack had the barbeque going and had hamburgers and hotdogs cooking. Troy along with his sisters, some of his cousins and Gabriella were sitting out back on a picnic blanket eating. Eli was lying down on the blanket next to Troy. Sharpay was inside eating because she would not dare to sit on the ground even if it was on a blanket and she made Ryan stay with her. While they ate they chatted about trivial things and got to know each other better. Even though they were related and/or went to school together there was still stuff that they didn't know about each other. After they finished eating everyone but Troy, Gabriella, Kelsi, and Martha went to go play or visit others who were at the party. They decided to go to the basement and hang out there in much more comfortable seating.

After a few minutes of sitting in the living room they decided to get out guitars and play some music. Kelsi and Troy used every bit of stealth they had in them to go to her parents' car and get her guitar and get back to the basement without anyone seeing them. Troy got his guitar out of his room to play also. He also got out his music sheet collection. He had quite a bit of music written by other people but he also had a lot of music that he had written over the years.

Troy, Kelsi, Martha, and Gabriella were in his living room going through all of the music that he had written trying to find songs that they could play on their guitars to pass the time until the baby shower part of the party.

"Kelsi I wrote a guitar part to go along with my song 'Boston' for you, did you want to see it?" asked Troy.

"Yeah," she said excitedly.

Troy gave her the sheet music so she could look it over while he continued to organize the rest of the music that they had spread out on the coffee table in front of the couch that they were sitting on. Martha was sitting in the chair looking through other pieces of music. She had the other songs he had written while he was writing 'Boston' which included 'Reasons', 'Twenty Years' and 'I Still Ain't Over You' all of which could be played on just guitars or with other instruments. Gabriella had chosen to sit on the floor between the coffee table and the fire place to look at the music that was spread over the coffee table and to listen them play. They spent about a half hour playing all three songs until both Martha and Kelsi wanted to go upstairs to play them with the piano.

"Do you think we can do this without Sharpay taking over and making this a 'Sharpay Show'?" asked Troy as they headed upstairs. He was carrying Eli and his swing while Kelsi was carrying the music and a guitar and Martha had the other guitar and her video camera. Gabriella was in charge of opening and closing the door.

"We can if we simply don't let her know what we are doing until we are already playing," answered Kelsi.

"Yeah, but what's to stop her from trying to take over after we have started?" he asked.

"Well if she tries we tell her to stop or we simply pack up and leave," said Martha.

"Okay, you two go get set up by the piano room and I'll get the swing set up for Eli," said Troy before they entered the hall from the stairs. They had everything set up when he got back with the swing and put Eli in it.

They decided to start with 'Boston'. Troy had not even gotten to the first words before they had an audience. All of the women that were in the kitchen chatting came into the music room (former dining room) to see who was playing and as he started sing even more of the guests came in to see what was happening. By the time they had gotten half way through the song even the guys who had congregated outside on the deck around the barbeque had come in. Martha kept them back while she was video recording them playing and Gabriella stayed by Eli to stop anyone from knocking him over or picking him up. Almost everyone listening had no idea how well he could play and sing. After 'Boston' they played 'Twenty Years', 'Reasons', and 'I Still Ain't Over You'. When they were done playing and politely thanked everyone for liking their playing they packed up because it was almost time for the baby shower part of the party and Sharpay looked like she was ready to try to take over.

At 1:00 all of those who wished to participate in the baby shower were gathered in the grand room. Troy was sitting in a recliner holding Eli where his mother had made him sit. Grandma Sophie and Lucy were in charge of the event. "Okay ladies and gentlemen," said Lucy while rubbing her hands together, "we have a few games to play and then Troy will open presents."

"The first game is for you to guess how much Eli weighed, how long he was, and what time he was born. You are to write your answers on the cards with the sharpies that are being handed around. Make sure to write your name on the card. You also get to keep the sharpies. The person who gets closest to the answer of each gets one of these for a prize," she said as she held up a glass jar with a candle in it with green, blue, and brown glass drop beads in them that Troy had made; another jar had a cookie mix in it; another was full of M and another had school supplies such as post-it notes, pencils, pens, highlighters, and erasers. Troy had made several of each for the many prizes for the games. "You will get to choose which one you want."

After everyone wrote their answers on the cards they out them in the bowl that was passed around and handed to Troy. He read out the answers from the cards as his mom wrote them down. Mrs. Darbus was the one who guessed the closest on how much Eli weighed when he was born guessing 4 pounds 8 ounces when he actually weighed 4 pounds 7 ounces. She chose one of the candle jars as her prize. Gabriella picked 12:03 am when Eli was born at 12:01 am but she was still the closest and chose the school supply jar. Aunt Jessica guessed that Eli was 12 inches long when he was born when he was 11 ¼ inches long and chose a cookie jar. Everyone else was off by quite a bit with their answers; some were actually quite funny with how far off they were (cough Sharpay cough).

"Okay our second game is 'The Price is Right'. For this I will hold up a baby item and you will write down the price. The person with the closest price with out going over wins. More cards are being passed around. You will have 30 seconds to write a price and then you have to put it in the basket on the coffee table. We have five items all of which Troy will get to keep when we are done. Each winner gets one of these jars. So first up we have a six pack of 5 oz bottles," she said holding up the bottles for everyone to see. Grandma Sophie was using a stop watch to time. After the 30 seconds were up and the cards were put in the basket the basket was passed to Troy for him to read the prices. The actual price of the bottles was $25.48. There were guesses ranging from $10 to $50 but only Jack who had decided to play this game was close with out going over. He guessed $25.29 the next closest was $25 even. He chose one of the school supply jars. The game continued and after the bottles was: a four pack of 23.4 oz containers of powdered newborn formula for $98.24; newborn diapers 252 pack for $ 42.50; baby wipe container with seven refills for $19.23; and lastly a snuggly blanket for $18.72. All of his aunts won the rest of the round and either picked a candle jar or cookie jar as their prize.

"Okay the next game is just sort of a fun thing but also helpful. Once again you will be writing on cards. This game is called 'What do you do?' On one side of a card you write some thing that can happen. For example 'Baby spit-up on the couch what do you do?' Then we will have an exchange of cards then you write the answer to your situation on the new card. When they are read you get funny answers to 'what do you do?' I want you to write your name at the top of the cards that you write on so that later the correct answer can be paired with the correct situation," she said while making sure everyone had a card and sharpie that wanted to participate. They got some hilarious combinations that had everyone laughing.

While everyone had been writing for the last game Troy had feed, changed, and laid Eli down for a nap. After they were read it was time to open presents but everyone took a break first to get more food and use the restroom. Once everyone was settled back down it was time to open gifts.

"Alright now that everyone is back, it's time for Troy to open the presents. To make this a little more interesting for everyone watching we are going to play BINGO. Each present has had a number written on it and as Troy opens each present he will announce the number. You will use your sharpies to mark these BINGO cards if you have that number just like regular BINGO," Lucy said as the BINGO cards were being passed around until everyone had one. "I will be keeping hold of the numbers and checking the cards when someone calls BINGO. Okay let's get started."

Troy opened the presents as they were handed to him. He would call out the number and then hand the sticky note label to his mom to keep hold of. His Grandma Sophie was writing down who gave him what not only for the thank you cards he would be sending out but to be written in a baby book once he found one he liked. He had looked at quite a few baby books but they were either geared towards a mother filling them out, very girly, or scrapbooks that he would have to put a lot of things together.

Troy got a lot of baby clothes, receiving blankets, pacifiers, bottles, and baby head to toe wash from his neighbors. He got a Winnie the Pooh diaper bag and sling from some of his neighbors also. From his father he got bibs, onesies, pacifiers and a blanket that had sports logos on them. Grandmother Amanda gave two thermometers one that was a pacifier and one that goes in the ear. Grandfather Richard gave a baby monitor that has sound and video with two cameras and one monitor. Aunt Rosalia and Uncle Jonathan Evans gave a dishwasher holder for bottle tops and pacifiers; and two drying racks for bottles and pacifiers one that is round and can spin and another that is square and sits on the side of the sink. Aunt Margaret and Uncle Oliver Cox gave a microwave sterilizer for bottles and pacifiers and a bottle warmer that goes in the car that uses the cigarette litter to plug into. Uncle Nathaniel and Aunt Robin Nielsen gave a bottle warmer that plugs in an electrical socket and another bottle microwave sterilizer. Uncle Adam and Aunt Jessica Nielsen gave two blankets that she made. The blankets had basketball or sports balls print on one side and the other was white with baby fleece bubble texture. Each also had a white satin boarder. The blankets were five feet square. Troy loved them. Martha gave a baby support pillow like beanbag. Eli could lay in it with his elevated and eventually drink his bottle on it, for now it would just be a soft place to lie in. Kelsi got a keepsake handprint set. There were five metal round tins in increasing sizes and plaster mix. As Eli got older Troy could make imprints of Eli's hand as he grew. Mark, who was not there but sent the present with his parents, gave a baby bath made out of cloth filled with soft beads. Mrs. Darbus, who is one of his neighbors, gave a five pack of onesies and a four pack of receiving blankets. Gabriella gave a Winnie the Pooh gift set that she put together her self. She found a Winnie the Pooh canvas tote box that she put two blankets in one had Tigger and the other had Pooh; three wearable blankets in different Pooh designs, and a Pooh bottle set. Ryan gave a clothes set that was brown and orange plaid that came with a hat. Grandma Sophie gave a Winnie the Pooh clothes set that came in a canvas tote box which included seven onesies, seven bibs, seven sets of sock, and two pants. Grandpa Alex gave a keepsake box and baby book. Troy loved them both. This baby book was what he was looking for; it was blue and made for a boy, it had pages that all he had to do was fill in blanks and add pictures, and didn't look like it was made for a mother.

After Troy was done opening all the gifts he made sure to thank everyone again. As a thank you to all those who gave him gifts he passed out a little gift bag. In the bag was a magnet that had Eli's picture on it with him laying on his Winnie the Pooh quilt that came in the bedding set. It also had written 'Troy Alexander Bolton welcomed Elijah Alexander Bolton on July 4, 2010 at 12:01 am weighing 4 lbs and 7 oz measuring 11 ¼ inches long' to the side of the picture. Also in the bag was a pack of playing cards that had Eli's hand and foot prints as the picture on the back of the cards along with his name and birth date. A bag of M&Ms was also included. Shortly thereafter the party was over and everyone went home.

After all the guests had left Troy set Eli up in his swing in the grand room where the baby shower had taken place. With Eli content for a while Troy was free to help clean up. Between Troy, Lucy, and Mira the inside was back to normal except the table of house warming gifts in two hours. Jack, Kat, and Emma tackled the outside. Once everyone was back inside they had dinner which consisted of left over party food. After dinner they opened the house warming gifts. Jack and Lucy got a lot of candles, popery, and hand towels. Troy was a bit surprised to find a few gifts for him but after he found out that they were from the Montez Family he wasn't so surprised anymore. The first gift he opened from them was a baking sheet set that included cookie sheets, cake pans, and muffin pans. The next was a baking utensil set which included a whisk, spatula, two large serving spoons, salad tongs, vegetable peeler and grater, can opener, measuring cups, and measuring spoons. The third and final gift was six square glass containers in three sizes that had flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, and chocolate chips in them. A recipe for chocolate chips using those ingredients was also included. The rest of the family was a bit shocked and amused that he got the best house warming gifts but was appeased when he agreed to share the cookies when he made them. After all the gifts were put away and the area cleaned the girls went to bed. Troy's parents also decided to call it a night.

Troy took all of the gifts down to the basement. He then took pictures of all the gifts with an index card with who gave the gift in the picture. Troy was using the list his Grandma Sophie had made as a reference. As he went through the gifts he completely opened everything and took off labels and tags. He put all of the clothes and blankets in Eli's laundry basket to wash everything before it was used. After everything that could be put in the washing machine was in the laundry basket he took it upstairs to start a load of laundry. When he came back downstairs he loaded all the new bottles and pacifiers into the dishwasher and ran it. He put all of the new bath soaps in the bathroom under the sink with the rest of his stock. The new thermometers were put with his first aid and grooming kit that he got for Eli which was also under the sink in a tin can that came from a baby bath soap set. Troy then sat at the table to figure out how the new baby monitor and bottle warmers worked.

Troy spent the rest of the evening putting away all of the new stuff and getting a semblance of order back in his home. He also set aside everything that would need to go to the day care for his son. He figured that he would call in the morning to see when Jane wanted him to bring everything over. After he was satisfied with his progress for the night he went to bed.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: if you recognize it it's not mine.

PLEASE check out my profile page to see links for pictures of the furniture and baby stuff that I mention in this story. I spent a lot of time finding it all maybe even more time than in writing the story.

**Sorry for the wait. Please read the authors note at the end.**

Chapter 9: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday blues

Sunday

By 8 in the morning Troy had finished the laundry he started the night before and had it all put away except what he was planning on taking to Jane's. He also had the dishwasher emptied and was using the drying racks that he had received at the baby shower to dry all the bottles and pacifiers. He had also set up the new baby monitor that he got putting one camera in each bedroom overlooking each crib. Next he put together everything that he wanted to take over to Jane's. At around 10 am he called Jane to see when she wanted him to bring everything over. She said to come right on over if he was ready.

…

"Good morning Troy," said Jane as she answered the door.

"Good morning Jane. Again thank you for taking time on your weekend for this," he said as he entered her house carrying Eli in his car seat and a big diaper bag.

"Its alright Troy, we weren't doing anything today but sitting around the house. Do you have more in your truck to bring in, you mentioned cases of stuff over the phone?" she asked.

"Yes, cases of formula, diapers, and wipes are in my truck," he said as he placed Eli on the kitchen table where Jane had gestured for him to.

"My husband, Will, can help you with them and I'll watch Eli," she said as Will, came out of the living room into the kitchen.

"Hello Troy, I'm Will, it's nice to meet you," he said holding his hand out to shake.

Troy shook his hand and said, "Hello Will, it's nice to meet you too." He then led the way to his truck where they got the cases of stuff out and brought them back into the kitchen.

"Okay in the bag are changes of clothes for both Emma and Mira incase they are needed for whatever reason. I also put the loose stuff for Eli," he said as he opened the bag and started to pull stuff out. "Here are his bottles, I brought you five bases and ten sets of tops, with two packs of the liners. Let me know when you need more. I use the bases a few times before I wash them unless they get dirty when I am filling them. With the nipples you have to make sure that they are lined up in the ring correctly or they will leak, you see these bump here on the nipple and the grooves here in the ring," he said as he pointed to them, "you make sure the bumps are in the grooves and they wont leak. Now these nipples last for about a month of being put in the dishwasher every other day before they lose their shape and it won't mater what you do they will leak. You can tell when they get to that point when the base of the nipple no longer sits flat on the counter. When they get to that point throw them away and let me know so I can get more. Right now Eli drinks about 3 oz at a time. He will suck these bottles dry but wont drink anymore if you were to give him another bottle. I tried thinking that he might still be hungry but he wasn't, if that changes I'll let you know, or you can let me know if you notice first. I squeeze all the air out before I start to feed him so he gets less air into his tummy. Hum, let's see what else. Oh, yeah, I have different bottles at home, ones that don't use liners. I got a lot at the baby shower yesterday, some are the same as I have been using but others are different. I want to try them out before I bring any of them over. Plus I wanted him to be drinking a bit more than he is now so that he doesn't suck a bottle dry before I use that bottles that don't have liners during the day. At night he doesn't drink quite as much so he doesn't take in a lot of air at the end. Any questions so far?" he asked taking a break from his monolog.

"No I'm good you are on a roll keep going," she said with a smile. She was taking notes for reference later. She enjoyed meeting new parents; she found it endearing how much they felt she needed to know about their child even if she has been watching kids for several years. Each child was different though so she listened to know the individual quarks and to let the parents work through their nerves. Troy was the most nervous new parent she had met to date. His age had a lot to do with it but also that he had not let anyone else watch his child without him present before not even his parents or grandparents so he did have the right to be very nervous.

"Okay, I also brought a formula mixer and a container to keep mixed formula in. I usually mix two batches at a time. I use one to fill bottles and keep them in the fridge, the other I put in this container for later. That lasts two days for me. I put both the mixer and container in the dishwasher every other day. I also got this cool microwave sterilizer. I got two at the party. I tried this one out last night it worked great. It fits bottles, nipples, and pacifiers. With this if you hand wash the bottles and then put them in the sterilizer you won't have to put them in the dishwasher. Let's see I also brought four pacifiers and these pacifier holder things. They attach to the pacifier and you clip them onto Eli's clothes to stop the pacifier from falling on the ground. I put in here a few receiving blankets and snuggly blankets. I use the receiving ones when I feed him to protect my clothes from milk and spit-up. He likes the snuggly ones when you hold him or lay him down. I put a few changes of clothes in there also. That's it for the bag, do you want me to put all of this back in there?" he asked gesturing to everything he had pulled out.

"No just leave it, I'll put it where I want it after you leave," she answered.

"Okay," he paused taking a deep breath before moving on to the three cases, "I brought a four pack of formula. One can lasts me about two weeks. Next are the diapers. These are the only brand that I have found that both fit him right so they don't leak and don't give him a rash. This pack should last you a month but let me know when you are running low. I have found that these wipes are thick enough that they don't tare and are sensitive enough that they don't bother him. I also use them on his legs every time I change his diaper. He has eczema. Right now he only has spots on his legs. I put this cream on it after each diaper change. I find that he gets the most relief with the frequent application. The spots don't seam to be getting better but they are not getting worse. His doctor said to just keep doing what I am and eventually the spots will go away. Well I think that is it," he said looking at everything on the table.

"Okay, but if you think of anything else you can call me or tell me when you drop or pick up the kids," said Jane.

Shortly there after goodbyes were exchanged and Troy left to go back home. He spent the rest of the day with his son getting every waking moment that he could. Toys were played with, songs were sung, stories read, and quiet moments were spent snuggling. Night time came much to fast for Troy.

Monday

In the morning Troy had Eli, Mira, and Emma ready to go by 6:30 am and was at Jane's by 6:40 am. After a very heart wrenching goodbye Troy left at 6:48 am and did a drive by to the school to complete the timing exercise he was doing to make sure he was not late to school on Wednesday. He made it to the chained off parking lot at 6:55 am. At least a tem minute adjustment would need to be made for the first day of school. He was back home by 7:10 am.

Troy made it two hours before he called to check on Eli, who was doing fine and seemed to enjoy the change in scenery. He then spent the next few hours reading and giving Kat a piano lesson to take his mind off of Eli not being there. This time he lasted four hours before he called. Eli was still doing fine and was down for a nap and had drunk his bottles just fine for Jane. There was very little crying except to let her know that he was hungry or needed his diaper changed. Troy called once more to confirm the pickup time to be 4:30 and Eli was still doing fine. Later that night Lucy called a family dinner to see how the girls' first day of school and daycare went and how Eli did as well. They also needed to talk about the plan for the rest of the week and the general school year. That week would be different then the rest of the year so they planned that first.

On Wednesday Troy, Eli, and the girls would need to be ready to leave the house at 6:15 am for the youngest three to be dropped off at Jane's and for Kat and Troy to make it to school by 6:45 am. They needed time to find a parking spot and then find their classrooms. They were lucky that due to their late registration that they already had their schedules, ID cards and locker assignments so they would not have to sand in a line in their gyms to get them. School was out at 3:10 for Troy and 3:15 for Kat. They would meet at his truck and then make their way to Jane's. Due to Jane having to pick up two other kids at the elementary school she was going to go ahead and pick up Mira and Emma at 3:25 like she usually does even though Troy could have picked them up on time that day. It just did not make since for both of them to go there when Troy would still need to go back to Jane's to get Eli anyway. So to keep things as simple as possible Troy would be picking the youngest three up at Jane's. Lucy's schedule was a basic 9 to 5 but sometimes she needed to go in early or stay late. That week she would most likely be working a 7 to 6 day and she need a 30 minute travel time. Jack's schedule was more of a split one. He held morning practice from 6:30 to 9 am and evening practice 6 pm to 9 pm. Jack also needed a 30 minute travel time.

Thursday's schedule would start the same but end different because that should be the day of basketball try outs for Troy. If what his cousin Mark and the Montez twins said was true the try outs would be from 4:30 to 7:00 pm. Due to this Lucy would be picking up the kids from Jane's and Kat from school.

Friday would be like Wednesday except Troy was out at 3:50 pm. Troy would be picking up the kids from Jane's that day. As for the next week they decided to wait until the weekend to discuss it because they should know by then if Troy had made the team and would be better able to work out more precise schedules due to having Troy's practice schedule.

Tuesday

Troy spent the day finishing his summer homework and getting everything ready for the next day. He even had his clothes and Eli's set out. When there was nothing else for him to do to get ready he played the piano. By the time he left to pick the kids up he had played for four hours and had written three new songs. Tuesday evening was spent playing with Eli because starting the next day his time with his son would decrease drastically.

Author's Note **PLEASE READ**

First of all sorry for the long wait I had a bit of writer's block on how to get from chapter 8 to chapter 10 and this was the result. I don't like the end but no matter how long I pondered on how to improve it nothing came to me so I decided to post it anyway.

I am already working on Chapter 10 and have about 10 pages typed and I am only about a third of the way done with it. I hope to have it up in a week. Chapter 10 will be the last part of act 1 so to say. After that I am going to make time skips. Writing the story day by day is no longer needed.

Some things to look forward to:

First day of school

Basketball tryouts

Youtube video fallout

Troy gets sick either diabetes or hypoglycemia (low blood sugar opposite of diabetes) I haven't decided on which one yet your input can make the decision for me but I am leaning towards hypoglycemia.

The holidays


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: if you recognize it it's not mine.

Chapter 10: First day of School

As far as Troy was concerned first days of school sucked. In his 16 years of life he has had more than his fair share of them. Of course he had the same ones as everyone else does at the beginning of each school year but he also has had some in the middle of the school year. He also had to start new days at three elementary schools. In elementary school it wasn't so bad to be the new kid because some other new thing would soon attract the attention of everyone's short attention spans. He was grateful that the moves his family had to make while he was in junior and senior high in Chicago did not involve having to change schools. Even though he was all for the move they made and starting a new school it didn't make first days at a new school any easier.

Today was not going to be any easier than any of his previous first days of school. He felt like he had '16 year old single father due to rape' tattooed on his forehead. If that wasn't enough he was skipping a year and he was taking mostly AP classes which were bound to be a source of bullying from the basketball team. He wished that he could just blend into the background for his last year in high school but his dad was making him try out for the varsity basketball team and he would make it. He was not being arrogant thinking that either. He was simply that good at basketball. It was hard not to be since he had been playing since he was five years old. With Jack being a basketball coach he pushed his son to be the best and that included year round training and being on a team as often as was possible. He was on school teams and league teams and trained with the college teams that his dad coached in-between. Troy's cousin Mark had informed him that the varsity basketball team ruled the school like Texas football teams ruled their schools. Knowing that Troy knew that there was no way that he could simply blend into the background for his last year of school. He just hoped for three simple things, one, that Eli could be kept a secret from the general school population as long as possible, two, that the youtube videos didn't come back to bite him in the ass, and three, that this basketball team wasn't anything like his last one.

Don't get Troy wrong he loves his son and can't see his life without him but being a single father in high school is going to be hell if it ever gets out and he has no doubt that it will but when and how is the question. His best bet would be because of Sharpay. He just knows that in a bout of jealousy she will tell the whole school what happened to him about what she knows about the rape and Eli and his mother. She may even tell her own made up version that will make him come out as some sort of whore. And the worst part is that what she perceives as something to be jealous over really won't be anything to be jealous over. So that's why he was still sitting in his truck staring at the school's front doors where he should be headed. Taking one last deep breath he got out of his truck and headed to his locker.

Five minutes later he was outside his first period class. He already went to his locker and put his lunch in there. His locker is on the first floor near what he thinks are the lockers of the members of the basketball team. The lockers along that hall are painted with 'Wildcats' written in big letters and a basketball hoop and several basketballs. As far as he can tell no where else is painted that way. There are other designs on the lockers in different halls but none in basketball themes.

It's Wednesday so he has all eight of his classes plus free period and lunch that day. First up is Drama which he hopes isn't all that bad because he will know several people in here, even if one is Sharpay. He paused a moment outside the classroom door to see who was already there and where to sit without looking like an idiot if he did it standing in front of the whole class inside the classroom. He quickly spotted Kelsi and Martha in far back corner of the classroom. He quietly made his way to them, nodding a quick hello to Mrs. Darbus as he passed her. Martha and Kelsi saw him coming and welcomed him with hugs.

"Hey, Troy how has your morning been so far?" Martha asked and really wanted to know how he was holding up with having to leave Eli at daycare but couldn't out right ask that without everyone else around them hearing her ask.

"Okay so far but ask me again at lunch and we'll see how the rest of my morning goes. How has your morning been?" he replied asking both Martha and Kelsi.

"Good, we got our schedules and new ID cards and then found our lockers. Then we came here," replied Martha for them.

At that point Gabriella had found them and was introducing her friend Taylor to them. "Hi girls and Troy, this is my friend Taylor. Taylor you know Kelsi and Martha. This is Troy," Gabriella said as she pointed to each person as she said their name, "I meet Troy this summer. He moved into the house that was for sale behind my house."

"Hi Taylor, nice to meet you," Troy said as he held out his hand to shake hers.

"Nice to meet you too Troy," replied Taylor as she shook his hand. Courteous hellos were also exchanged with the girls but that was as far as the conversation could go because the bell rang and Mrs. Darbus started the class. The five of them sat in the desks closet to the wall in the back corner on the room. They sat back and listed to Mrs. Darbus's introduction to Drama.

"Alright everyone sit down and be quiet, chop chop," Mrs. Darbus said as she clapped her hands on 'chop' at the front of the classroom, "we don't have much time before we are expected in the library to get your books for this semester so this will be a short introduction. However, you are all Juniors or Seniors and should not need to have your hand held through reading the syllabus and classroom rules. I have four simple rules and if you follow them we will get on fabulously. Rule number one, cell phones are to be OFF and put AWAY during class. If I SEE your cell phone I will take it and you will have detention. This is your only warning! Rule number two, be on time! If you are late you get detention. Rule number three, no talking out of turn. Rule number four, due your fair share of work and participate in the group projects."

"You are to read the syllabus in detail on your own. The last page you and your parents are to sign saying that you have read it and understand what is expected of you to pass this class. Its due Monday, however if you have it here tomorrow then you will get two extra credit points. You all will have opportunities to earn extra credit. In this class there are a total of 1000 points possible. You have the opportunity to earn 5% of that as extra credit. For those of you who need the help with the math, that is fifty points. You can earn no more than that. The percent of extra credit that you earn will be added to your final grade. In past classes the extra credit alone has made the difference between passing and failing. However, I find that those that make the effort to do the extra credit are not the ones who actually need it but it is there for all of you despite that. Details on how you can earn the extra credit are in the syllabus," she said all of this as she passed out the syllabi to the students.

After she finished passing out the syllabi she returned to her desk and picked up an even thicker stack of papers. "In this class you will do many assignments either they are done individually, in pairs, or in groups. All of those assignments will accumulate into your term project which is explained in this packet," referring to the stack of paper in her arms that she started to pass out. "Read this before tomorrow. We will be discussing it in great detail then. Your first assignment will be done individually and is explained in this packed," referring to third stack of papers that she was now passing out. "Try to also read this before tomorrow."

"Now put away all of those and pack up we need to head to the library now." So the class did as they were told mostly in silence except for the noise made from papers and backpacks because most of the students were in shock over all of the papers that they would have to read that night. A select few were not quite as shocked as the rest of the class but still chose to be quiet because they did not want to get detention in the first class of the day on the first day of school, the five in the far back corner of the room were amongst those few. Troy and the four girls kept out the syllabus to read as they walked to the library and as they stood in line to check out their books. Troy put his stack of packets on his clipboard that was in his backpack so that he could use the different colored highlighters and pens and a pencil that were in the pockets of his cargo pants as he walked. That move probably cemented him as a nerd or geek in the eyes of the rest of the class but he wasn't going to waist time doing nothing because he had other things he could be doing at home with the time it could take him later to do it for example spend quality time with Eli. The four girls thought it was a great idea so they used binders or notebooks for a hard surface and used their own stash of highlighters and colored pens to do the same. Mrs. Darbus thought that they made quite the group and wished more of her students were like them.

Troy was the last one to get his textbook with two minutes left before the bell rang. He used that time to put the book and clipboard in his backpack and got out his schedule to figure out where to go next. AP English was next on the list and was on the other side of the school and up two flights of stairs. As the bell rang Troy said bye to the girls and made his way through the suddenly very crowded halls. Troy made plans to stop by the booths that they would be working at during free period in the cafeteria for the club and sports exposé that was happening.

Troy couldn't decide if English had been better or worse than Drama had been. His teacher Ms. Barten, basically gave them five minutes to settle into their seats and then gave them a quiz to see if they had read the _Lord of the Rings_ book or had watched the movie. When Troy saw the questions he was glade that he had bought a copy of the book at a used book store for cheep so that he could write in the book and made special note of what was different from the movie. He was even more glade after the quiz was over and the teacher handed out the project packet that they had to do with the book. She was putting special emphasis on the difference between the books and the movies. She wanted the class to graduate with the knowledge that sometime books are better than movies. Throughout the year they would have to choose other books that had been made into movies and do similar analyses as homework projects. She made sure to stress that only one of the five they had to do could be a _Harry Potter_ book/movie and only one could be from the _Twilight_ Saga. Troy made note of four books that he had in mind to use for the assignments; _Angles and Demons_ by Dan Brown, _The Lucky One_ by Nicholas Sparks, _My Sister's Keeper _by Jodi Picoult, and _The life and Death of Charlie St. Cloud_. All five analyses were due during the next semester so he planed to get a few done during the winter break to make his second semester go a little easier. The general theme for the class was a lot of reading and then a lot of writing with the writing being mostly analytical. He left the class feeling overwhelmed with how much time it was going to take to get everything done. The overwhelmed feeling is what was making him feel like AP English had been worse than Drama.

Troy didn't feel any better as he walked into the cafeteria to look at all the booths that were set up in fact he felt worse. The high noise volume that hit him as he walked in the doors felt life a physical blow to the face it was such a contrast to the relatively quiet halls. He took a deep breath to try to calm down. He slowly made his way along the first side of the room walking back and forth between both sides of the aisle towards the stairs that lead to the second story balcony where he could see 'Academics' written on a banner. He knew that was where he would find Gabriella and most likely Martha. He found Kelsi at the Drama booth along with Sharpay and Ryan. As Kelsi was discreetly gathering the information fliers for Troy, Sharpay was basically trying to stake out the Drama Club as her territory. She knew that Troy had talent and didn't want him to take the spotlight off of her. Mrs. Darbus's arrival created the needed distraction for Kelsi to hand the fliers to Troy without Sharpay seeing. Troy said his greeting and farewells to them and then made his way the Photography Club booth that was on the other side of the aisle. From the booth he gathered all of the fliers and a booklet on what they did as a club and the benefits of joining. He also met his Photography teacher, Ms. Hodges, while he was there. She seemed like a very cool teacher and was looking forward to her class later that day. That was the last of the booths that he wanted to see on that side of the room so he made his way up the stairs.

The academic section of booths had a club for every subject it seamed plus a few extra. He stopped at a few to see what they were about he found that most were just a place to hang out and discuss the subject or to get help with homework. The physics both was actually more about doing extra experiments and fun stuff so he signed up for the club and got the information fliers and packets. He then made his way over to the Academic Decathlon booth where Gabriella, Martha, and Taylor were. The only paper he picked up from there was a calendar of events and practice time so that he would know when they were because Gabriella and Martha were involved with it. He chatted for a few minutes with them but moved on because there were other students that wanted to see the booth and he had to make his way down to the Basketball booth that was at the other end of the Cafeteria also, he wanted to see what the other booths were that were on his way there.

There weren't many that he stopped long at mostly he just made his way to the front of the crowd to see what the booth was and then moved on. There weren't any other sports that he was interested in joining besides basketball so the only other booth he stopped at was the one for Gymnastics because his sisters had done it in Chicago and he wanted to know if they knew of a place where they could here. The coaches were quite helpful and even had information packets for all three age groups that his sisters' were in for the gym that they worked at. He knew that Mira and Emma would be happy about that but he wasn't so sure about Kat. She seamed to be more into soccer these days.

At the Basketball booth he introduced himself to the coaches and declared his intention to try out for the team. He spent a few minutes summarizing his recent move form Chicago and his experience in playing. He purposely didn't say anything about Mark being his cousin or already knowing the Montez twins. He wanted to get onto the team based on his skills not on his connections. If the coaches knew anything about him before meeting that day they did not let on that they knew. He left after signing up for try outs and with a flier that had the time and place for them. He left the cafeteria with ten minutes before the bell rang giving him twenty minutes before his next class started. He made his way to his locker to put away his textbook but kept the stack of papers he had been given in his first two classes. He then made his way to his next class government.

Government seamed like it was going to be an easy class. The teacher Mr. Hyde, laid out the plan for the class in ten minutes and then they went to go get their textbooks. Basically they needed to know the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and a lot of other important documents in US history. Some they would need to memorize word for word others they had to put into language that they could understand. But in all cases they needed to understand what the documents mean and how they apply to them. One thing that ticked him off though was that the only chance for extra credit in that class was to register to vote before the semester was over. As it happened he was the only student in that class that would not be turning 18 before the semester was over. The extra credit was worth 5% of their grade. Now Troy was an excellent student in Chicago and that's why he was skipped a grade even with the different curriculum he could have graduated a year early in Chicago. However, he now has Eli so any chance for extra credit he wants especially if it's as easy as filling out a form. So, he was ticked that he was the only one that would not be able to get the extra credit and the teacher was not offering him anything else instead. Now he just hoped that and extra 5% would not be the difference between an A and a B in the class. The only homework he left the class with was to read the syllabus and have a parent sign it and bring it back on Thursday and to cover his textbook.

In French 3 he found the desk layout to be different than any class he had been in so far. There was a large aisle down the middle of the room from the wall with the door to the front where the chalk board and teacher's desk was with the desks on each side facing the aisle. Gabriella was sitting on left side of the room by herself and five other students were sitting on the right side of the room. Troy went and sat next to Gabriella on her right in a desk that was in the second row and third column from the aisle and the front of the room. Gabriella was in the desk that is in the second row and second column. They barley had a chance to say hi to each other when the bell rang and the last student ran in and sat with the other five students on the other side of the room. The teacher Mademoiselle Slick started the class by handing out composition notebooks to the class and spoke in French to them.

"Welcome to French 3, Monsieur Bolton I am Mademoiselle Slick, the rest of you welcome back. The eight of you are the only ones who chose to continue on in French. It has been a long summer so let's see how many of you remember what you have learned in the last two years. You will have one week to prove to me that you belong in this class. If you fail then you will either need to drop the class completely or transfer into a French 2 class to repeat it. Most of you did fairly well last year however, some of you barely passed. So here is your first chance to prove to me that you belong in this class. Raise your hand if you can translate what I just said to you into English." She paused and looked to all eight students, only five had their hands raised Troy and Gabriella amongst them. Of the three who did not raise their hands two looked completely lost the third looked like she was still working on the translation but was just a little slower then the other five. After a minute her hand shot up too. The teacher wanted to test her unknown subject so she called on Troy to translate and was pleased when he translated word for word correctly.

"Here is your next chance to prove yourself," she said in French as she flipped on the overhead projector and then went and sat at her desk. On the projection were instructions to copy down what was written in French on the left side of the page in French and then translate it in English on the right side and then do what the writing said to do. They had five minutes to write down the French and then they went to the library to get their textbooks. The assignment was instructions on how to format the composition notebook entries and to translate the French to English, label the front on the notebook, cover the textbook, read chapter one of the textbook before Friday, and translate the syllabus that she handed out in the library from French to English typed for Friday.

Troy and Gabriella made a quick stop by their lockers to exchange books for their lunches and then headed out to the back quad where the club booths had been moved to because Gabriella had to work at the Academic Decathlon booth again. There was a patch of nice shaded grass under a tree behind the booth so Troy sat there to eat his lunch and read the ever growing stack of papers. As he read he made note of the supplies that he was required to buy for each class on a separate sheet of paper so that when he took his sisters and Eli to Walgreens after school he wouldn't be flipping through several different packets of paper in the store and inevitably missing something. This way he wouldn't miss anything and he could have Eli in his sling and Emma in the seat of the shopping cart. He made it through the government syllabus by the time lunch was half way over and he was joined by his cousins and friends who had the second half of lunch free.

They took turns talking about how there morning had gone and it was a unanimous vote that Troy had the worst one with how much work he would not only have to do before classes started tomorrow but also throughout the school year and he had only been to half of his classes. Troy was also working on the French syllabus to see what was needed. Troy and Gabriella made plans to compare translations the next day either at lunch or after basketball tryouts depending on how much they had done by lunch the nest day. Lunch ended with Kelsi heading to her music class and the others going to AP Calculus.

The girls and Troy didn't find calculus to be that bad. They turned in the summer assignment and then were given the first weeks assignment and took notes that would be continued the next day. Every Wednesday they would be given an assignment and they would have a week to complete it, when they worked on it would be up to them. There would be a big term project in the second semester that was aimed to help prepare them for the AP test at the end of the year. Overall they felt that as long as they kept up with the homework and didn't leave it until Tuesday nights to do that they would do well in the class. Homework made up 50% of the grade and test the other 50% in the first semester. In the second semester the term project would take up 10% of the homework grade still leaving tests as 50% of the grade. Which when you think about it you would have to get less then 10% on each test and not get all the homework credit to fail the class.

Troy and Gabriella split from Martha and Taylor who had other classes and went to AP Physics. The classroom didn't have desks only lab tables that fit two students each. Troy and Gabriella took the table that was in the second row and closest to the right hand wall when sitting down and facing the front of the room. Troy took the seat closest to the wall. They both got out their summer assignments, the book, and paper to take notes on. After their calculus class they fully expected to start right in on note taking. They were partially right, the notes were on lab room safety and on proper equipment handling. Actual notes on physics would start on Friday when they next had class. Homework was to read the next chapter in the book to be prepared for the next class. After the class was over Troy and Gabriella went their separate ways but he invited her over to his house in the evening if she wanted to work through the ever growing stack of papers and chapters that they had to read in the next two days.

In photography the class was spent going over the syllabus, safety, and darkroom privileges. Then they went to the library to get their books. Homework was to get the syllabus signed by a parent or guardian and if they wanted to fill out the forms to have a personal darkroom. There were several darkrooms that student were allowed to basically rent for the semester or year. There was a fee to pay for the chemicals and photo paper which changed based on how much you used. The teacher got discounted rates on the stuff because it was order in bulk and for the school but she order extra for the students who rented rooms. Once they used up what the initial fee covered they had to pay for more or they could buy their own from somewhere else. Troy planed on renting a room for the year and right of the bat he was going to pay for extra chemicals because of how many photos he had saved that he wanted to print. He had some photo paper left from his classes in Chicago that he would use up before he paid for more.

For PE the coach took roll and then had them sit down in their section of the gym for the rest of the time. No activity was allowed on the first day because they were not in gym clothes. The rest of the classes were using the time to assign lockers but they would get their lockers after they made the team if they made the team. Troy spent the time finishing going through syllabi to add to his shopping list and then went through them deeper so that he could truthfully sign them saying he understood what was expected out of him that semester or year as the case may be. Some of the other boys teased him for doing work when none of them were but they quickly shut up when he showed them the inch and a half stack of paper he was expected to read in the next two days. He also pointed out how late tryouts would be running the next day so there wouldn't be much time to do the reading after tryouts not to mention that he would most likely be assigned even more work tomorrow. After that they mostly just thought that he was insane for taking so many hard classes his senior year. By then end of class he was done with the syllabi but still had all the other papers and book chapters to read that night. When his class was dismissed he went to his locker to get all of his books and lunch box and then headed out to his truck to wait for Kat.

…

On the way to pick up his sisters and Eli, Troy asked how Kat's day went and then they planed the trip to Walgreens so when they arrived at Walgreens a half hour later he had a plan of attack. Troy had his list, Emma's, and Mira's in his right leg cargo pocket along with a marker to mark off the items as they put them in the cart. Kat held Emma's hand as Troy put Eli in the baby sling that he got at the baby shower. This worked much better then the baby carrier he had before because Eli was a bit too small for it. With the sling Eli didn't have to hold his head up and there was less worry of him suffocating in it. Eli had on one of his Winnie the Pooh outfits that included a hat, socks, pants, and sweater so Troy was not worried about him getting cold in the store. With pacifier attached and stuffed Pooh Bear toy blanket combo in hand Troy put the sling on with Eli already in it, put his own sweater on over the sling, locked up the truck, and headed into the store.

Troy helped Emma and Mira get their stuff first and then started to get his own stuff while Kat started out on her own but stayed within Troy's sight at all times. Mira quickly got board standing around so Troy handed the stuff he got off the shelves to her to put in the cart or had her get the stuff off the shelf to keep her from becoming 'board out of her skull' as she said. They were going through the notebooks when Gabriella and Taylor showed up. After a quick introduction, leaving out that Eli is his son because he didn't quite trust Taylor with that information just yet, they continued picking out school supplies. They chatted while they did so talking about the rest of their days and how much more homework had been added to their already huge piles. Taylor got a kick out of Emma and her bold personality as she talked about her day. Even sitting in the seat of the cart she had a very domineering presence that just commanded everyone's sole attention. Troy just chuckled at both Taylor's and Gabriella's reactions to Emma as he and Mira continued to get the stuff on his list. He finished shortly before the girls did but with how much he had to check out with his sisters' stuff they left the store at the same time. As it turned out they parked next to each other with Taylor on Troy's left so when they got into the vehicles Gabriella was able to say, "see you later tonight," to Troy without anyone else hearing her.

….

Eli was content to sit in his bouncer in the middle of the kitchen table as Troy and his sisters emptied the bags and sorted out the school supplies. After that Troy helped Emma put her new supplies together and then got her started on her homework. Mira did her own organization and then started her homework. Kat was still organizing and had moved to the Grand room so that she could spread out. Troy left his stuff for later and started dinner. Lucy would not be home until about 6:30 pm and it was about 5:00 pm so Troy hoped to have dinner done and ready to eat by the time she got home. After the prep was done and dinner was in the oven all that would be left to do was set the table, serve the food, and eat. By 6:00 pm both Emma and Mira had their homework done and had their bags packed for tomorrow; Mira was taking her nightly shower; Kat had her homework done and was working on covering her books; Troy had his stuff moved to his kitchen table in the basement; and was setting the family kitchen table for dinner.

Troy spent the time he had left before Lucy got home and dinner started, feeding and playing with Eli. After Troy ate dinner he would give Eli a bath and then put him to bed. Eli would sleep until around midnight when he would wake up in need of a diaper change and a bottle. Troy hoped to have his homework finished by then so he could go to sleep when he put Eli to bed after his midnight feeding.

….

After a delicious dinner that was enjoyed by all Troy went downstairs to get on with Eli's nightly routine and then start in on his homework. It was 8:30 pm when Lucy joined him in his living room to read and sign the stack of syllabi. She was a bit surprised to see that Gabriella had joined him.

Troy had managed to cover all of his books and fill out the packet of papers to rent the darkroom before Gabriella had come over. Together they read through the packets for Drama and now were working on the French syllabus translation. They were doing their own work but would check with each other as they went along to make sure they were getting the same translation. After the translation was done all he would have left to do would be reading the chapters in the French and Physics books.

Lucy didn't mind that Gabriella was there because she knew that Troy was not yet ready to have a girlfriend let alone do anything above a G rating. Her only concern was if Gabriella's mother knew she was there and if she was okay with her being there. Once Lucy was assured that Mrs. Montez was okay with Gabriella being there she sat back and read the syllabi and signed them. She also signed the packet for the darkroom. Lucy left saying that Gabriella was to be on her way home by 10 pm and that Troy was to walk her there.

That night they finished the translation and even did the readings together. They decided to leave the calculus homework for another night. Troy spent the time between taking Gabriella home and Eli waking up for his midnight feeding organizing all of his new school supplies, getting ready for the next day including making his lunch, and taking a shower so he wouldn't have to take one in the morning unless it was absolutely necessary.

…

Thursday turned out to be a less stressful day as far as class went but Troy was stressed out thinking about basketball tryouts after school. In a way he wanted there to be too many better players than him so that he didn't make the team. He wanted to be able to go home after school so that he would have those extra two to three hours with his son each day. If he made the team then he would only get about four waking hours with him which just did not seam to be enough. But he also knew that to keep his dad happy that he had to do his best to get on the team. When it came to his dad it didn't seem to matter what he wanted and what would make himself happy only what would make his dad happy. What sucked even more was that his dad wasn't going to home much anymore because of the times that the college team he coached for had practices and games. All of this was going through his head as he miserably ate his lunch with the girls. They were sitting outside in the same place that they were the day before soaking in the sun, being in the New Mexico desert made for quick weather changes so they were enjoying the sun while it lasted. They were mostly complaining about their classes and how much work they had to do already and it was only the second day of school.

Troy was listening with half an ear so that he could chime in when he was needed but he had pulled out his camera and was taking pictures. He was fooling around mostly and a majority of the picture would be deleted but taking picture calmed his nerves so the pictures served a purpose even if they never made it further than the microchip that they were on and only had a life of a few minutes to a few days. After a while the girls noticed that they had lost him to his world behind the camera lens. None of them had actually seen him in this capacity before so they sat back and watched him for a while. Troy came back to their world when he noticed the silence that had fallen around him.

"Sorry, I zoned out there for a bit what was the question?" Troy asked as he realized the girls were looking at him like they ask him a question that he didn't hear.

"No question, we were just watching you take pictures, we haven't seen you do that before. You got this very intense but relaxed look when you were taking them," replied Kelsi.

"Oh. Well taking pictures makes me relax."

"Were you not relaxed before?" asked Martha.

"No, not really, I'm stressing out about tryouts after school. In a way I want to make the team to have some normalcy back in my life but at the same time I don't because I just want to be able to go home after school and have some chill time. But with the way thing have been going and will continue to be I wouldn't be able to go home after school and just be a normal teenage kid. I have to look after the munchkins because both my parents are working late so I have to make dinner and feed them and help them with their homework and make their lunches for the next day. By the time our mom gets home its time to eat dinner and after that there is maybe an hour before the munchkins go to bed Kat stays up a bit longer but she's in her room by her self. So after they go to bed so does our mom. If I were to not tryout or not make the team I wouldn't get that time to myself anyway so there really is no point to not going to tryouts. Its just wishful thinking for things to go back to they were a year ago before my life went to hell in a hand basket," he said in what practically came out as one very long run on sentence but who needs to be grammatically correct when you are ranting. After that he laid back down in a huff leaving the girls with open mouthed dropped jaws in stunned silence. Before the girls could recover he continued, "So, that was why I was taking pictures to relax myself."

Excluding Taylor who wasn't in the know about Eli, the girls knew to exchange 'chill time' with 'Eli time' and that Troy just wanted to be able to go home after school and spend time with his son. Instead it was either basketball or taking care of his sisters. They all had some variation of the thought that his parents were putting too much of their responsibilities on his shoulders. It was Gabriella who recovered first, "well first thing first, do you want to play basketball. Forget about what anyone else in your life may want or need for right now. Focus on what you want. Do you want to play on the team or not. Think about that for a moment then answer me, but give yourself a few minutes and really think about what it is that you want to do. Forget about all of the responsibilities you have just focus on the one simple fact do you want to play basketball?" she said and then fell silent to let him think.

So Troy did as she asked, he laid there and thought about what it was that he wanted to do, not what his dad or anyone else wanted him to do. He loved to play the game before his rape but ever since then he associated the game with the rape. But was it really the game or the team that reminded him? He couldn't answer that without playing again. He would go to tryouts and see if even made the team first. Later if he was reminded too much of that night and couldn't handle it and became more harmful to the team then helpful he would resign from the team. Everyone else would just have to deal with that, this is his life not anyone else's so he needed to live it his own way. "I need to tryout to see if I even make the team. If I quit now I'll regret it eventually. If it gets to be too much then I'll deal with it then," he said. To himself he continued in his head that he would just have to maximize the time he could spend with his son some how.

There was still 15 minutes left in lunch so Troy spent the time taking pictures of everything around them. The girls left him alone to calm down from his mentally exhausting lunch. By the time they had to go to their next class Troy had calmed down enough that the tornado going through his head had been down graded from an F4 to an F1. Calculus was spent taking notes to be able to do that weeks assignment. Photography was a relaxing class. After turning in the paperwork for the darkroom he was assigned one of the single rooms. He had to endure a review lecture on what was taught in the previous classes and then what was considered new material for the rest of the class but for him was also review. After 45 minutes they were allowed to borrow cameras or use their own to go take pictures for 20 minutes and then come back. Troy managed to find the roof of the school and the results of the garden club. He spent all his time up there getting some very interesting shots. Some of his favorites were of the amazing view of the mountains in the distance. He even used the panorama function on the camera to get the breathtaking view. When they came back they were all suppose to pick a few that they were to develop in the darkrooms. With 40 minutes left in class they would have just enough time for the pictures to go through all the developing chemicals. Viewing the pictures would have to wait until Monday. Troy asked to use his private darkroom because he had a bit of extra time after class before he was due in the gym at 4:30. He had a few extra pictures that he wanted to develop in that time. The teacher agreed provided that she was allowed to view what he developed before she left the school that evening. Troy agreed. So he spent his time very efficiently and managed to get all of the photos he wanted done before he had to leave. Now all the photos had to do was dry. He hoped that they would be by the time tryouts were over. The entrance to the darkroom was in the hallway so he didn't need to go through the classroom to get into it. He had one of two keys to the room the other was in possession of the teacher.

There was time to go to his locker first so Troy headed there first to get what he needed for the night. Once Troy got to the gym he was directed to the locker room. He and all the other boys there were directed to change and then leave all their stuff in a storage room which would be locked during the tryout so their stuff would not be stolen. Troy wanting a very quick change had planed ahead that morning. He had his basketball workout close on under the track pants and jacket he had worn all day so he simply took them off and changed his shoes. He was done in two minutes and out on the court stretching and warming up. Each boy was given a jersey with a number on the front and back. The jersey reminded Troy of the ones worn during PE in games of Ultimate Frisbee so that you know who is on your team and who is not. He put it on but hoped that they weren't what were practice jerseys because they were very see through and way too big. He let those stray thoughts go and concentrated on the task at hand. Soon the Montez twins were leading warm ups and then stretching. During stretching one of the coaches came around with a clipboard and asked for the names of the boys he didn't know to be put next to the number on their jersey. Troy noticed when he was asked his name that notes were already being taken on each boy trying out. What exactly they meant he didn't know for two reasons he didn't get a very long look and it appeared to be in some kind of code or short hand notations that he couldn't decipher in the few seconds he got to look at it.

Tryouts continued with ball handling drills and skill testing. Shooting was tested next. Team work was tested with a few simple plays and games. Finally at 7:30 pm they were called to a halt. They had 15 minutes to be showered, changed, and back in the gym. Troy managed to get showered and changed in that time and with out anyone seeing the scare on his chest and if anyone did see they didn't mention it. He was one of the first back out in the gym. He noticed that one side of the bleachers had been pulled out so that there were four levels for all of the boys to sit on and have enough space around them to stretch out a little. There were also two tables set up in the middle of the gym. On one table sat two stacks, one of folders and one of school planners with the Wildcats logo and name on the front. The other table was empty. The team managers were in the process of lining up team sports bags behind the tables. Troy made an educated guess that those bags had the team uniforms and warm-ups in them because they were not empty by any means. Troy took a seat in the fourth row so that he could lean against the wall that all the seats that had not been pulled out made. He also liked that he had a better view from there and that no one would be behind him. He used the few minutes he had before the coaches came out to organize his stuff a little better. He put his lunch box in his gym bag, pulled out his cell phone and truck keys, and then put them in his jacket pockets. He was still a bit hot so he had the jacket unzipped and the sleeves pushed up. In the few minutes it took him to do that and get as comfortable as he could on the bleachers the rest of the boys that had tried out had settled on the bleachers also and the coaches were coming out of the locker room.

In short order the head coach, Bart Johnson, had everyone's attention so he began to speak, "You all did very well tonight and if I could I would keep you all but the fact remains that there are only twelve spots on the varsity team and there are twenty of you so that means that eight of you didn't make the cut. However, the rest of the coaches and I strongly suggest that you go to the JV tryouts tomorrow. As all of you should know Coach Ortaga who is the JV head coach was here tonight watching. He left after you all hit the showers but not before telling me that he wants to see the eight I had to cut at his tryouts and on his team. So I will call the eight of you now. I hope you will all make the JV team the best team we have had in years." In short order he called the names and then they quietly left the gym, Troy was not amongst them. He sat back relieved on some level but also in a state of shock. He made the varsity team. Before Troy had more time to think about the ramifications that making the team would have in his life Coach Johnson commanded attention from the remaining boys.

"The rest of you have made the varsity team. Keep this in mind however, for some of you there was very little that separated you from switching places with some of the eight that just left," he paused for a moment to let that sink in before he continued, "Now that has been said lets get on with business so that you can all go home. When I call your name you will come up and get your team bag, one of the folders, and one of the planners on the table. In the bag are your warm-ups and practice uniforms. Game uniforms will be ordered next week. We will go over that more on Tuesday during PE. You are to use the planners. They are there to help you stay on this team. The district, this school, and I all require you to have high grades. For the past nine years that I have coached here the teams that I coached all have the highest combined team GPA. I want to make that 10 years. That being said if you have to miss practice or even a game because you need help with your school work or just need more time to study let me know. I don't want it to be a habit but if it comes down to it and you need that time I will give it to you but expect to make up the practice time that you missed later. If you do it to many times I will kick you off the team so don't let it come to that. Moving on. In the folders you will find a lot of paper. There are schedules of practice times and the season games. There is also the student athlete handbook and the varsity basketball team handbook. Then there are all the forms you need to fill out. You need to get a physical before you are allowed to practice with the team. You may have it done by your own doctor or be here in one week for the ones we have done here, see the flier in your folder for the details. Starting tomorrow to next Thursday PE time will be used as conditioning time not study hall. Come prepare to workout. Lockers will be assigned tomorrow. If you want to check in with me before school so that you can put your gym bags in your lockers I will be in my office in the gym at 6:30 am. Back to the folders, there are also permission forms, you and your parents or guardians need to fill them out. There are also forms that need to be signed saying that you have read the handbooks in the folder. You will have until the beginning of PE next Friday to have everything in this folder filled out and turned in to me. Now are there any questions, general ones that apply to all of you, one pertaining just to you can wait until I have dismissed you?"

There were no questions so he called out the names of all the boys. Troy got his stuff and found that he had been given the number 14 which made him smile. Shortly thereafter they were dismissed. Troy was a bit slow in putting the folder and planner in the team bag and then putting on all three bags he now had. He felt a bit like a pack horse when he was done. He hung back a moment because he needed to talk to the coach. He had a doctor's appointment tomorrow at 3:45 which meant that he needed to leave school at 3:15 which meant leaving PE early. The coach was okay with it because he would be getting his physical done while he was there. So with permission to leave class early tomorrow secured he headed to his darkroom.

Once in the darkroom he took off all the bags so he didn't knock anything over. He found a note in the room from his teacher saying she loved the pictures and that he was to bring all of them to class on Monday even the ones that were obviously not taken in class that day. Luckily all of the photos were dry so he put them in the portfolio that he had brought to school for just that purpose. He also spent a few minutes rearranging his gym bags so that he could fit one inside the other. It took a bit of finesse but he did it which made walking out to his car just a bit easier. Troy's truck was the last one in the lot. On the drive home he focused on making a mental list of what he needed to do that night instead of the tryouts or what that meant for the rest of the school year.

When he got home Lucy was waiting for him holding Eli. Troy quickly put down all of the stuff he was carrying and took Eli into his own arms. Lucy gave them a few minutes before she asked how tryouts went. While eating his dinner Troy told him mom how tryouts went. Then they went through the folder reading and filling out the paper work as they went along. It was almost 8:30 pm when Troy put Eli to bed. Troy wanted to spend the extra hour with his son and Eli was awake later than usual because apparently he took a short nap when Lucy first brought the kids home from Jane's which he normally doesn't do. After Eli was in bed asleep Troy spent the next few hours making sure he thoroughly read the handbooks, used the planner to put in all of his assignments and exam dates from the syllabi, and got his stuff ready for the next day. He even took another shower to get more of the grim off and to sooth his stiffing muscles. After Eli's midnight feeding they both went to sleep for the rest of the night.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: if you recognize it I don't own it.

Sorry it took so long to update if you want to know the reason read the author's note at the end.

The next chapter might be up later today I just need to edit it.

Enjoy!

Chapter 11 Time Marches On

As the weeks passed Troy and his family feel into a routine. During weekdays the kids hardly saw Jack because of his work hours. Lucy was still working long hours but was home for dinner every night even if dinner didn't start until 7:00 or 7:30 pm. The schedule left Troy in charge a lot of the time which put a lot of responsibility on his shoulders which resulted in a lot of stress. He did his best to deal with the stress by working out hard during basketball conditioning and practice and also with taking photos. Troy's stack of photos to develop and ones that he already developed had grown quite large.

School was going well for Troy. He used his day planner that he got when he made the basketball team efficiently. With well thought out planning that was fallowed through to execution he kept up on school work and in some cases even got ahead. Weekends were spent giving piano lessons in the mornings and afternoons were spent doing school work. He fit in his sisters' piano lessons in during the weekday evenings and sometime on weekends when the weekday nights got to busy with school work.

The only two note worthy events that took place were Kat's 13th birthday and the second family dinner. For Kat's birthday they had a small family party with a home made cake and presents on the night of her birthday. During the second family dinner they also had a cake and a few presents. The big party where friends would be invited would happen in October. All the kids and the parents decided to have a combined party for all four kids towards the end of October because the other three had birthdays then. That would also allow Kat more time to make friends that she could invite to the party.

The family dinner had an interesting power struggle between the kids when they spent the first hour together in the basement. In the four weeks since the last dinner and during the week and a half of school Troy had inadvertently managed to get the loyalty of all of his cousins except for Sharpay and Ryan. By having some of them over to help him unpack and get settled into the new house they started to get to know each other better. By continuing to hang out with Martha and Kelsi during school and on occasion Olivia and Charlie also, Troy was seen as cool and admirable in the eyes of his cousins. Philip, Kelsi's younger brother, the only cousin not in high school, liked Troy because his sister does and he was a lot cooler than Sharpay or Ryan. That all being said when they had all gathered in the basement and Sharpay wanted everyone to do her bidding like she was some queen that they all had to obey and serve she was in for quite the shock when she was ignored and even laughed at.

Troy, his sisters, and cousins excluding Sharpay and Ryan spent the hour playing pool and cards. Sharpay spent the hour sulking in another room in the basement and Ryan spent it trying to cheer her up. Troy also used that time to feed Eli and play with him some.

Eli was now able to hold his own head up for longer periods of time. Eli enjoyed having Troy hold his chest under the arms so that he could stand on his legs and bounce. Troy did most of the work but Eli was slowly building leg muscles. Most babies were doing that at closer to two months but because Eli was born three weeks early his physical development would be delayed by at least that much. Eli's health and development is also complicated by his mother's refusal to take good care of herself during the pregnancy. Even if Eli had not been born early there would have been complications. He still would have been small in size and weight because his mother didn't eat enough while she was pregnant. Troy read a lot of books, internet articles, and did what the doctors said to do to make sure that Eli would be able to catch up with the average development by the time he was two as is the norm with preemie babies.

The evening progressed with all the kids taking their turn to playing the piano. Luckily with the four added Boltons everyone only _had_ to play one song or, _got_ to as the case may be. Dinner went smoothly because it was imbecilic to do anything to cause a scene in front of the grandparents especially during dinner. After dinner though Sharpay decided that she was going to get as much attention as she could so she made Ryan play the piano while she sang and preformed for everyone. Troy snuck away to tend to Eli who still did not like her singing. During this family dinner night Troy only got a few minutes with Gabriella unlike the last one but he made sure to thank both her and her mother for the wonderful food and even asked for the recipe. Mrs. Montez was very flattered but thought he was joking until he went on about having to cook dinner every weekday night and wanted more options that his sisters would actually eat. She finally agreed to show him a few if he came over the next weekend to her house where she would teach them to him.

Troy had just left the kitchen missing his grandmother who was looking for him so the Montez women nor Troy, got in trouble. She did however find Troy in the Library where he was sitting on the floor changing Eli's diaper. She promptly told him to finish up and return to the family room where everyone else was. The evening finished quickly after that.

The next week of school went by without anything notable happening. After Troy finished his Saturday piano lessons he packed up his backpack with the homework that he and Gabriella were going to work on. Next he packed Eli's diaper bag with diapers, bottles, and toys to last until late evening. After that he got Eli's bouncer, lounger, and play mat and put it all in his truck. With everything ready he put Eli in his car seat and then into the truck. Troy was at the Montez home in a few minutes and was met out front by both Gabriella and Maria (Mrs. Montez). They helped him bring in all of the stuff for Eli. While Maria entertained Eli, Troy and Gabriella took all of the stuff that Troy brought over to Gabriella's room upstairs. At first Troy was a bit confused because there wasn't a bed in her room just one wall with floor to ceiling bookshelves and a corner desk. The other wall had a sofa that was really comfortable looking but there was no bed. Gabriella seamed to know what he was thinking and pointed out a door on the wall with the bookshelves that went to where her bed was.

As Troy set up the stuff for Eli Gabriella explained, "a few years ago instead of spending money on a big birthday party and a lot of presents like usual, I wanted what was extra attic storage to be converted into a livable space. The original plan had been for that to be my study space but the odd shape it turned out to be made it hard for bookshelves and a desk to fit. So instead I made that my place to sleep and out here my study space. Its taken a few years to get everything the way I want it but now that I do I think that it was worth it."

"I think it's cool. So, what did you want to work on first?" asked Troy as he started back downstairs to get Eli from Maria.

"Let's get physics and calculus done first. Those take the most brain power and its best to get them done before my brothers get home and make a lot of noise," she said as they entered the family room when Maria was sitting holding Eli.

"You have quite the angel here Troy," Maria said as they entered the room. She was holding Eli and he was alternating between smiling and blowing spit bubbles, which seamed to be his new favorite thing to do. She handed him over to Troy as Gabriella picked up the car seat.

"Thank you for watching him. When did you want to start the cooking lessons?" asked Troy.

"How about 3:00 that will give you two about three hours to work on homework by then you will need a break anyway," replied Maria.

"Okay, thanks," said Troy.

Then they went up to Gabriella's room to do homework. They managed to finish the calculus assignment for the week and the physics book work for the weekend also. They had just finished compiling all the information that they would need to write up their physics lab reports when Maria came to check on them at 3:00. Because they were at a good breaking point they cleaned up what they had been working on and then joined Maria downstairs. Eli was one hour into what should be a two hour nap. Troy had packed the baby monitor that he used before the one he got at the baby shower so Eli was left napping on Gabriella's bed in his lounger.

In the three hours that Troy and Gabriella had been doing homework Maria had laid out everything that would be needed for the cooking lesson. She had planed and organized everything that would be needed during the week. After they were done she would not need to cook for the rest of the week because they would be making several meals that would serve even her large family for the week. As they worked Troy made detailed notes on what to do. When his hands were a bit too messy to write what he wanted Gabriella did it for him. They three of them had a fun time as they cooked. At around four Eli woke up. After changing his diaper and bring him downstairs Gabriella volunteered to feed him so that Troy could get back to the cooking lesson. Troy got the bottle ready and helped Gabriella get situated to feed Eli.

The cooking lesson continued smoothly with Gabriella taking care of Eli. At 5:30 Adrian and Julian, also known as the Montez Twins, got home from playing basketball at one of the other team mates houses. They took the scene that they walked in on in stride. Apparently they had been warned about the lesson and in the few weeks that they had known Troy they had figured out that he did most of the work in his house taking care of his sisters and cooking was just one of those things that he had to do. They didn't make fun of him for three reasons, first, they were raised not to, second, they figured that Troy had been through enough in the last year that he didn't need being teased by his new team mates to be added to that list, and third, they would get to eat the results of the cooking lesson. They stayed for a bit but were shooed out to do their homework by Maria. The lesson was finished after another hour. Troy got to taste everything as it finished and even took a bit of each home with him so that the rest of the family could try everything to make sure that they would eat it if Troy made it. After cleaning everything up Troy packed all of his and Eli's stuff up and back into the truck. A few minutes later Troy was headed back home. By 7:00 pm Troy was in his room sitting on his bed playing with Eli for a while before it was time to feed and bathe him to get him ready for bed. The day had gone well for the both of them. Later that night after Eli had gone to bed Troy finished all the homework that he had for the weekend.

On Sunday Troy, Eli, and Lucy went grocery shopping getting everything that would be needed for the week and included the stuff needed for a few of the new dishes that Maria had taught him the day before. When they got home Troy took over the kitchen after Eli went down for a nap. He cooked several meals for the week and then put them in the freezer. Dinners that week would be faster to prepare because of all the prep work that he did that day.

Author's Note:

Again sorry for the long time between updates there was a combination of factors. The first was writers block on how to write out a scene that I am still working on. I decided to put that aside and write another part instead. The next chapter is the result of that. It took me a while to write though and was not finished until a few days ago. Then I had to get from where chapter 10 ended to where what chapter 12 will be but wasn't sure how to get there. Another bout of writers block . Then A very long chapter came to me but it took place in December and the story is still in September. I finally wrote this chapter but didn't think it was long enough so I kept working on what I am making chapter 12. The two chapters didn't really flow well together so I have split it in two. The first you have just read and the next may even be up later today or tomorrow. It depends on how my editing goes. Anyway, I hope the next few chapters will be up sooner than how long this one took.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it's not mine.

**If you simply went to the last chapter of the story make sure you have read chapter 11. I posted two chapters today ;D Yea for you.**

Please read the authors note at the end. Happy reading!

Chapter 12 Photo Camping Trip

As October rolled around the amount of stress that Troy was under grew and so did his photo archive. Troy's photography teacher Ms. Hodges took Troy's escape mechanism as total devotion to photography and so she decided to help improve his chances of one day being a professional photographer. So she asked him to have an advising meeting during lunch on Monday October 10th. During the meeting Troy was given several applications to schools that offered photography as a major. A few of those schools were Ivy League schools including Yale and Columbia University. Scholarship applications were also included for those schools. Troy was also given a stack of information and forms for photography and art competitions, some of which were higher end competitions that most of her students wouldn't even have a chance of placing let alone wining but she felt that Troy would be able to at least place even if it was last place. Sometimes just being recognized for the simplest category in one of the high end competitions was enough for some schools to offer a place in their programs. Most of the competitions offered rewards for the top three places in each category, some of those awards were money or scholarships. Some of the entries for the competitions that would be judged before applications for college were due in November were due the following Friday. To meet the deadline for entry Troy would have to spend that week and next getting photos ready to enter and fill out the applications for the competitions. Troy was also advised to take more landscape photos and was given a location in the Sandia Mountains that were about an hour drive away. The landscape photos would also help fulfilling some of the portfolio requirements that most of the photography schools wanted. She also advised him on what other photos to put in his portfolio. Together they went through all of his photos, the ones that he had already printed and the one that were still on his computer. She helped him select the best photos that he had already taken and advised him on how to improve some photos that he could easily retake.

The rest of lunch was spent going over the directions and the best locations in the mountains to get the best landscape photos and largest variety. Ms. Hodges even pulled out one of her portfolios to show Troy the pictures that she had taken over the years on the many camping trips that she had taken. Troy left the meeting with his head whirling and an idea forming for a photo camping trip. There was basically only one weekend that he could do the trip on before it got too cold; didn't already have something planed; or wasn't past the due date for the competitions, scholarships, or college admissions. The trick would be to get his mom to agree.

He saw this trip as the last opportunity to de-stress and unwind before the second half of October commenced. The last half of October had the third family dinner, his 17th birthday, Mira's 9th birthday, the combined birthday party for him and his sisters, Emma's 5th birthday, and Halloween. The 31st of October will be the one year anniversary of his rape. Anniversary implied something to celebrate and that wasn't something to celebrate but he didn't know what else to call it. Troy knew that all he would want to do was stay at home and in bed but he wouldn't be able to do that for several reasons. One Halloween fell on a Monday this year which meant he had school and should not miss it so that he could save his _sick days_ for when he or Eli were actually sick. The second reason he couldn't spend the day curled up in bed ignoring the outside world was that it also happened to be Emma's 5th birthday which called for the family dinner celebration like they did for Kat's birthday and would do for his and Mira's. Third was that Trick-or-Treating would have to be done and this year Emma would not let him miss it. Emma was still simply too young to understand fully what had happened to him last year and that he was still effected by it and that he would rather be alone instead of celebrating and having fun. So he will celebrate Emma's birthday and go Trick-or-Treating with his sisters and his son. He would put on a fake smile and get all the free candy in the guise that it was for Eli. Their father had taken advantage of the girls being too young to eat any or all the candy for years, now it was his turn with Eli. He even had ideas for costumes. Troy was determined to focus on the positives to get through what was sure to be a very rough time.

Anyway back to the photo camping trip. He would have to go on the weekend before his birthday, leaving Friday evening and come back Sunday in time to be ready for the family dinner. He just so happened to luck out that his piano students for that weekend had all made different plans and had to cancel. A few had scheduled longer sessions in the following weeks to make up for the missing time. In exchange for not charging for the canceling of the lessons Troy would get one free canceling of lessons in the future. Troy knew that his mom would not let him go camping alone, Eli didn't count as not going alone, so to prevent his trip from becoming a stressful family trip and a very unproductive one at that, he needed to find others to go with him. At the top of his list were Kelsi, Martha, and Gabriella. He didn't think that getting Kelsi and Martha to go would be a problem. They were cousins so the whole boy-girl alone with no parental units wouldn't be an issue. He also has plans to bring his homework and so would the girls so, that wouldn't be an issue. Third he planned to be back in time for the family dinner so the girls would be also. Fourth he would provide all the camping gear. Fifth he would pay for the campsite. The hick-up he foresaw was the cost of food. He knew that he could cover the cost of food for the whole trip for himself with $50. That included bottle water and junk food. Due to not teaching piano lessons that weekend he didn't have a lot of money to spend if he didn't want to dip into his savings account. He had enough to pay for himself and have some extra cash left over but not enough to pay for all three girls' food for the weekend. Who paid for the girls' food would depend on a few things. One would be if his mom decided to pay for any of it. If his mom paid for all four of them then there wouldn't be an issue. If she would only pay for him then he would contribute the $50 he budgeted for the trip food into what he considered communal food such as bottled water and junk food that everyone would share. Hopefully Martha's and Kelsi's parents would contribute money for their food.

Gabriella, well she was a wild card. Homework, the camping equipment, nor getting back in time for the family dinner would be an issue. It was the whole Troy was a boy and Gabriella is a girl and they are not related that would be the issue. He didn't know how to deal with that issue with the least amount of fallout. Gabriella has four older brothers and a father that will all want a say in the issue. Saying the right thing to them without offending Gabriella will be a delicate and precise mission. He would need all three girl's help but, first he had to see if they even wanted to go. He decided to ask Martha and Gabriella in Calculus. He would either have to talk to Kelsi on the phone that night or have Martha and Gabriella talk to her after school.

Mondays in calculus were assignment work days. The students had the period to work on that week's assignment and to get help if it was needed. The students could work individually or in groups as long as they kept their voices down so that everyone could concentrate. Troy and Gabriella usually did most of the assignment over the weekend so that class time could be spent getting help on the problems that they couldn't solve between the two of them. They would spend the first few minutes comparing answers with Martha to see if she could help them with unsolved problems and if they could help her with the same. Martha preferred to try the problems by herself first because she learned the best that way so she didn't go over to Troy's on the weekend to work with him and Gabriella. When there were problems that the three of them couldn't solve they signed up on the homework help sheet that Mr. Goodwin kept at his desk, putting their names and the problem numbers they needed help with. He used the list for two reasons; first it let him know how many students were struggling with the same problems and it made a fare way for him to help all that needed it. One student didn't hog all of his time nor did someone not get help because he didn't see them raise their hand before another student did over and over again. If a homework problem showed up on the list more than two times he would work the problem out for everyone.

This week in particular Troy and Gabriella were able to solve all of the homework problems over the weekend. Troy didn't know how Martha had faired though. Troy would see if she needed any help before bring up the camping trip. If students finished the assignment before class was over they could turn it in and then do what they wanted for the rest of class as long as the talking was kept low. Usually by the end of class Mr. Goodwin would be able to go through the few assignments that were turned in early to see if all the answers were done correctly. If there were problems done incorrectly he would hand the assignments back for the corrections to be made without a penalty as would have happen when they are turned in on Wednesday's. If all answers are correct then two extra credit points are awarded that can be applied to future homework assignments. Troy, Gabriella, and Martha had racked up quite a few extra credit points that way. As it turned out Martha only needed help on one problem which ended up being a simple arithmetic issue that was easily solved once pointed out with fresh eyes.

After all three assignments were turned in Troy talked to them about the camping trip. Both girls thought it sounded like fun and wanted to go. Martha said she would talk to Kelsi when she gave her a ride home from school. The discussion would also happen in the car so that they weren't talking about the trip in front of Taylor. Troy didn't want Taylor to go for two reasons: one, she still didn't know that Eli was his son and not his brother; two, there simply wasn't enough room in his truck for her to fit comfortably. So to spare her feelings as much as possible the trip would not be discussed in front of her. After the girls agreed to go on the trip with their parents' approval they spent the rest of the period planning the trip. Both girls had enough of their own money saved that they could pay for their own food if their parents wouldn't. Gabriella said that her mom would most likely insist on making something for them for dinner that could be thrown on the campfire to reheat or cook. Gabriella also said that she would deal with getting permission to go on the trip so Troy didn't have to deal with her brothers or father. A trip to Costco was tentively planned for Wednesday after school. A food list was made between the three of them and Kelsi would add to it later. Troy wouldn't be able to go shopping with them because he had basketball practice and after that he had to watch his sisters. So Troy would give them his money before they went shopping. They wanted to get what they could in bulk or from what they already had at home to save money. They hoped that if they had everything planned out before they asked their parents that their parents would agree to let them go with the least amount of pleading, persuasion, bargaining, blackmail, and down right begging as possible. The three left calculus with no homework and the best possible plan that they could make with the information they had. Further planning would depend on what their parent would want.

Troy spent some time while he was in his darkroom during photography texting his mom. She surprised Troy by agreeing to the trip as long as all the other parents agreed. She even offered to keep Eli for the weekend but Troy declined, wanting to spend as much time with his son as possible. After Troy reminded Lucy that she would have to do all the shopping for the big birthday party that weekend she agreed that it was for the best that Troy took Eli with him.

Later that evening both Martha and Kelsi called saying that their parents had given them permission to go on the trip but they wanted more details on the itinerary before they left. They were also given money for food and planed to go shopping on Wednesday after school and then bring all the food over to Troy's when they were done. It was still a bit too early to start packing but Troy decided to make a list of everything that he needed and wanted to take for himself and Eli so that when it was time to pack it would be easier and faster.

On Tuesday Gabriella had informed Troy that she had been given her parents permission to go on the trip and some money for the food shopping. The rest of the week went by quickly even with all the tests that they had. So when Friday came all four of them were excited and ready to go. As it turned out basketball practice was over early so he had a little extra time to pack but he hoped that they could leave a little early also. Troy sent a text to the girls to let them know he was done early and to come over when they were ready.

By the time all three girls were there Troy had all of his stuff ready to go in the truck. Between the four of them they had the truck packed within twenty minutes in the best way to set up camp when they got to the campground. Now all that was left to do was for Troy to say good bye to his mom and his sisters and to put Eli in his truck. At 5:00 pm they were on the road. The route that Troy planned to take if driven non stop takes about 45 minutes to and hour depending on the traffic getting out of the city however, due to getting on the road an hour earlier then planed Troy wanted to make a few stops on the way up the mountain. Ms. Hodges had marked a few places on the map that were on the road up. Troy wanted to scout out the spots to see what the accessibility is like, what photo equipment would be best to use, how much time should be spent there, and ultimately if it was the right season to get the best shots in those spots. Troy first needed to determine if it would be safe to get to the different locations not only for the girls but also for him because he would have Eli strapped to his chest in the baby carrier.

Sunset was scheduled for 8:02 pm so Troy wanted to be at the camp site by 7:00 pm to set up camp and to find the best place to photograph the sunset. Based on that Troy had two hours to get there giving him about an hour for reconnaissance. On the way to the first stop Troy told the girls of his modified plan due to having the extra hour. Kelsi decided that she wanted to stay in the truck with Eli until they were all sure that it was a safe hike. Martha wanted to go with Troy and would let Kelsi know if they could realistically make the hike. Gabriella has four older brothers who liked to do stuff like this that she naturally tagged along with so she felt confident of her own ability to hike safely. She also knew her limits and stuck to them.

At the first stop Troy pulled out the walkie-talkies he packed. After testing them everyone took one. Troy had Kelsi sit in the driver's seat with the doors locked, the windows closed, and the truck off but, with the keys in the ignition. Troy wanted her and Eli to be the safest that they could be.

The first spot was an easy hike to get to. The lower waterfall of a river that came down the mountain was the destination. Troy took quite a few photos from different view points. There were a few photos that he really liked due to the lighting so he took note of the time so that he knew when a good time was to come back. He however took the best shots that he could in case he didn't make it back. When they made it back to the car they had only been gone for 15 minutes. The next three stops were similar in the effort it took to get to them. There were safe spots at each location for the girls and Eli to sit down and relax while he could be a little more daring to get better photos. All in all the hour spent on reconnaissance was well spent. The girls didn't quite understand what he was doing but would by the time they got home.

When they arrived at the camp site Troy pulled into the old ranger station that was now empty due to budget cuts. In the parking lot was the electronic pay station. Theoretically you are suppose to drive through the entire camp ground to find the spot you want and then come back to pay for it and mark the map claiming your spot so that other campers know it is taken and the rangers that come through know that there are campers present; its more of a safety measure than making sure the campers pay. However, due to his teacher telling Troy what spots were the best he didn't need to drive around to find a spot that he liked before he paid and marked the electronic touch screen map. Site 25 was empty as was the entire campground but it was only Friday night. Troy hoped that they would be the only ones there that weekend but he highly doubted that they would be. Troy paid the $25 for the site and marked site 25 as occupied. Troy took the receipt and placed it in his camera bag until he could put it on the dash board later when he knew it wouldn't blow away.

Troy very quickly lead the girls in setting up camp. In 30 minutes they had the ground tarp staked down and all three tents up. The three girls will be sharing the tent his sisters usually share. Troy did pack a fourth tent just in case it was needed. Troy will be using the other two tents. He set up the one person tent up that he usually uses inside the huge tent his parents usually use. The double tent set up was for Eli's protection against the cold weather. Even with another tent inside it the huge tent still had room for a queen sized air bed to fit with more room to spare. All four of them could hang out in there while Eli took his naps in the smaller tent.

With the basics of camp set up Troy got Eli into the baby carrier and went to go set up for the sunset photo shoot. The girls stayed at the camp to unpack more of their stuff and set up the inside of their tent. Troy planed to do that later by lamp light. Just as the sun was starting to set he was joined by the girls. They brought a blanket to sit on and enjoy the beautiful sight. When it was dark they all headed back to camp using the flashlights to find their way. Troy quickly built a small fire to cook dinner over. While they waited for the fire to burned down closer to embers the girls set up the 'kitchen' area of camp the way they wanted it and Troy set up the inside of his tents. Using the car powered bottle warmer Troy got a bottle ready for Eli and then fed him. By the time Troy had Eli asleep the fire was ready to cook dinner over. While the main course cooked they got the rest of the food ready including dessert which was going to be Smores. The four of them spent a few hours just enjoying being there away from school, the city, and their families. Many Smores were consumed by the time they turned in for the night.

Troy was up at 4:15 the next morning. He had set his phone alarm to wake him in time to photograph the sunrise. He was able to get dressed and set up all of his equipment up before Eli woke up. Troy quickly got him ready for the cold morning and a bottle ready. Then the two of them headed to the photo site by flashlight. Troy feed Eli while he waited for the first signs of the sunrise. Eli was done and lying down on his lounger that was on a picnic blanket by the time the first rays of light peaked over the mountain. Troy was up there for two hours taking photos of the sunrise and the surrounding landscape that could be seen from that height.

Troy had breakfast made and ready to eat by the time all the girls were up. He even made a coffee and hot chocolate drink for all of them. French toast and eggs was the breakfast of champions for them that morning. While breakfast was digesting they pulled out some homework to work on. They hoped to most of it finished before lunch. After lunch Troy wanted to go down the mountain to one or two of the locations they stopped at on the way up yesterday. Most of the homework they had was to read the new chapters they would be starting next week. Troy had an exam in Government on Monday though so he did some review for that before he started reading with the others. He would review several more times that weekend though. Except for the on going Drama project the girls were done with their reading homework before lunch. Kelsi and Martha had a new set of Spanish vocabulary to study for the new unit that they were given after they took there last test on Friday. Gabriella and Troy were given the same but in French. They had the same teacher so her methods were the same. They were not required to start on the new unit until Tuesday but the students that did the best in her classes started the weekend between units. The four of them were very good students so they always started early. To make things a bit more interesting they were taking their foreign language homework with them to the locations further down the mountain to work on there. Troy knew Spanish well enough that he could also help Martha and Kelsi. After eating lunch and packing some snacks they piled into the truck.

Troy wanted to go to each location starting from the top down. At the first location Troy got some shots from both sides of the river but the best place was on the right side of the river if you are looking up stream. He found a great place to set up his camera to do a time lapse shot of the huge waterfall. He wanted to go to this place first because the best light there was a little after noon. There weren't any trees covering the river at that location but there were a lot on both sides. The sun wasn't directly overhead but a little to the side giving great light to the waterfall. While the time lapse photo was being taken Troy sat on the picnic blanket with the girls and held Eli in his lap. The four of them studied their French or Spanish while enjoying the cool air coming off the river. The next three locations were spent in a similar way except they also played in the water. There were shallow areas of calm water that were safe for them the stand in. The water was quite cold though so they didn't stay in long at one time. During the time that time lapse photos were being taken Troy joined the girls and took Eli back from who ever had him. All of them enjoyed being outside in nature for the day. The girls also spent a lot of time learning about photography and everything Troy was doing and he enjoyed teaching them. With about an hour and a half they headed back to camp.

As they drove through the campground they still seamed to be the only ones there. With 45 minutes before sunset Troy helped get dinner ready before he set up for photographing the sunset. After the sun had set the four of them ate dinner. Eli went to sleep easily that night because he didn't nap very much that day. After dinner they pulled out their guitars. They had some fun playing and singing songs that the four of them knew. When Gabriella expressed an interest in learning to play Kelsi and Martha started to teach her some basic cords that if put together made many songs. While the girls were doing that Troy played around on his guitar quietly. He was composing new songs on the piano and he wanted some guitars added to them. Having two people teach her at the same time became a bit confusing so Kelsi went and sat over by Troy. With the two of them together they very quickly wrote out some music to go along with the piano parts. Soon after Gabriella needed a break because her fingers hurt they made Smores for dessert again. This time instead of using plain chocolate they used mini candy bars too. After cleaning up for the night they all went to bed.

Eli slept until 4:30 am waking Troy up with enough time to take care of him and get another sunrise photography shoot. That morning instead of getting breakfast ready so early Troy started to break camp. He had all of his stuff that he wouldn't need throughout the day packed up and in the truck before the girls even woke up. Eli enjoyed sitting in his car seat a safe distance away watching Troy pack up; his eyes followed every move Troy made. With his stuff packed and ready for a morning spent at the river he set about making breakfast. The girls work up and started breaking camp also. They took a break to eat breakfast and then continued packing up. By 9:00 am they had everything back in the truck. On the way out of the campground Troy stopped at the ranger station to check out and then they were on their way. They skipped the first location down the mountain but spent at least an hour each at the other three. Troy took a few more photos at each location but mostly had fun with the girls and Eli. That day he took more photos of them then of landscapes. When 1:00 pm rolled around they headed back home.

Troy backed up into his driveway at 1:30 pm. After greeting his family the four of them unloaded Troy's truck. It took an hour for everything to be put away and for the girls to be ready to go. Martha dropped both Gabriella and Kelsi off on her way home.

Once Troy was alone in his basement apartment he got Eli ready for a nap. Eli had to be bathed and feed first though. With Eli settled for a few hours he ate lunch and then took a shower to get all the weekend grime off. With the time until he had to be ready to go to the family dinner he got all of his stuff ready for school the next day. He also did a load of laundry so that his closet didn't start to smell like the campground. By 4:30 pm he and Eli were ready to go to dinner.

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Family dinner night went smoothly. It seemed that there was an unsaid mutual agreement to not mention the camping trip by all those that were involved, parents included. No one wanted to hear disapproval from the Grandparents or complaints about not being invited by cousins. Troy, Martha, and Kelsi hung out in the theater room in the basement. Troy held Eli while he studied for his Government test the next day. Martha and Kelsi simply relaxed in the quiet; they were exhausted from the camping trip. While Troy feed Eli his bottle Martha and Kelsi quizzed him on his Government notes. He did very well but there were a few points that he needed to be more specific in his answers to get full credit on the exam.

The piano concert part of the evening went as usual. Kat, Mira, and Emma all played the new songs that Troy had spent the last month teaching them in their lessons. All three of them played with out the sheet music and did it flawlessly. Troy played a new song that he was in the process of composing. He was working on composing a long suite that has several songs in it. He only had one done, which he played that night, but he had several others in the works. These weren't the songs that Kelsi was helping him on. He wanted this piece of work to be composed completely by him. When he was done playing he got Eli back from his mom to go put him to bed in his Grandfather's study like the previous two dinners. He managed to be back watching Ryan play his song before his Grandmother found him. He pretended not to notice that she was looking for him but out of the corner of his eye he saw that she looked a bit disappointed. He knew that she enjoyed finding faults in him and he liked it when she failed.

For dessert there was birthday cake. Three small cakes were made so that Mira, Emma, and Troy could all blow out candles. Troy had a white cake with butter cream frosting his favorite and was sure that the only reason it was made was because Gabriella had told her mom that it was. Emma had a strawberry cake and Mira had a chocolate cake. After dinner Troy sat back and tuned out another Sharpay show. When it was time to go Troy stopped in the kitchen to thank Maria and Gabriella for the wonderful dinner and to say good night. Maria whispered to him that she was taking some of the extra cake home with her and would give it to him later.

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The week passed fast for Troy. Monday Troy had his Government test and got it back on Wednesday with a 100% for a grade. He spent many hours that week in his darkroom at school developing the photos he took during the camping trip. Tuesday was Troy's birthday. During lunch his cousins and friends sang Happy Birthday and had brownies instead of cake. During basketball practice the guys were a little rougher with him but were otherwise okay. They got him a basketball as a gift that they all signed. That night for dinner they had pizza and cupcakes. Wednesday was Mira's birthday and they had Taco Bell for dinner and fresh cookies for dessert. Thursday and Friday were normal days except for Troy spending some time each night getting things ready for the party.

Authors note:

In a few chapters from now I will be addressing the YouTube videos. I need some ideas about what Troy's user name should be, also for Kelsi's and Martha's.

Keep in mind that when Troy made the account he was still in Chicago.

He made the account to share videos with his cousins.

Troy and Kelsi used YouTube to collaborate on composing music.

Troy, Martha, and Kelsi were all born in 1993.

Troy did not have Eli when he created his account.

Thank you for your help. If I use a name you suggested I will try to work your name into the story as a character so when you sign your review make sure to mention a name you want me to use.

I hope all of you are enjoying my story. It makes my day to here from you that you do. Tata for now;D


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